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GEOGRAPHIC INFLUENCE ON THE ECO- 
NOMIC HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. 



G. T. SURFACE. 



The desire of gain, ambition for personal notoriety, and. relief from 
religious or political oppression are the three important stimuli which 
have led to the discovery and occupancy of new territory. Each of 
these figured in the discovery and colonization of America. , The 
commercial prompting predominated, since the great end to be 
achieved was the discovery of a shorter route to the South Sea, 
which would make the Indian trade more accessible. Whatever 
causes may have led to founding the Spanish settlements of the 
South, and later the Puritan settlements of New England, it is evi- 
dent that the prospect of financial reward was the chief incentive 
which led to the settlement of that part of the American continent 
known as Virginia. 

The expedition of Sir Humphrey Gilbert having proved a failure. 
Sir Walter Raleigh — his half brother — secured the patent renewed 
to himself, March 26th, 1584, and sailed April 27th from the w^est 
coast of England with two small vessels. He sailed by way of the 
Canaries, and reached the coast of Florida July 4th, thence north- 
ward nine days to 34° N. Latitude, and landed on Roanoke Island* 
at the mouth of Albemarle Sound. He entered possession in the 
name and right of the Virgin Queen, and planted the first Virginia 
colony. They found on the island deer, rabbits, and fowls. The 
natives brought them melons, walnuts, cucumbers, peas and grapes, 
together with skins, corals and pearls, which they gladly exchanged 
for knives, hatchets, and toys. The report of the Indians as to the 
beauty and wealth of the^inland country was so favourable that 
Raleigh returned to England about the middle of September (1584) 
to make representation to Queen Elizabeth. She promised what- 
ever assistance might be necessary for promoting and perfecting the 

* According to Harlot's Treatise aud Wich's map (both men were members of the e.\pedition) they 
landed first on an island called by the natives Wococon, a small island off the coast between Cape Hat- 
teras and Cape Fear. After a short sojourn here they set sail up the River Occam and the next evening 
landed upon Roanoke Island at the mouth of Albemarle Sound. Stith's History of Virginia, p lo. 



2 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 

Roanoke settlement. A fleet of seven ships and one hundred and 
eight men was prepared, which set sail June 26th (1585) under com- 
mand of Sir Richard Grenville. Ralph Lane was sent as Governor, 
and instructed to make extensive expeditions into the mainland. 
These were pushed eighty miles southward to the Indian village of 
Sccotan (in the present County of Craven, North Carolina), and 130 
miles northward to the Indian village Chesapeake, on the Elizabeth 
River (near the present site of Norfolk). 

Raleigh arrived in midsummer and found food supplies so abund- 
ant that he provided inadequately for the next expedition, in con- 
sequence of which the colonists sufl'ered greatly during the winter. 
This naturally discouraged them, and so great was their want that 
foul means were employed for securing food and skins from the 
Indians. Their enmity once aroused, they continued to harass the 
whites more and more. The following spring and summer failed to 
bring tidings or relief from England, all of which combined to make 
the condition more desperate. The promoters of the colony were 
utterly ignorant of the climatic conditions, and to this its failure is 
directly attributable. Sir Francis Drake, at the request of the Queen, 
visited the colony (August 1586) on his return from his successful 
expedition against the Spaniards ^^' of the South, and so earnest were 
their entreaties that he took with him to England every surviving 
member. This for the time dampened the zeal for colonizing Vir- 
ginia, but Drake's cargo of gold set the English merchantmen 
aflame with enthusiasm for finding the source of such fabulous 
wealth. History prepares the way. Raleigh fails to find its source 
in the South while on his Guiana expedition. The trade with the 
East Indies had been extended, and the revenues of the country 
increased. The w^ar with Spain had revolutionized and enlarged 
commercial relations in general and the defeat of the Armada 
laid the bed-rock foundation for English colonization. The time 
was ripe for the exploitation of new schemes and enterprises. Ac- 
cordingly, in 1604, the merchants of London, Bristol, Exeter, and 
Plymouth organized two companies, the "London" and "Plymouth," 
the business of the first to be the establishment of colonies in Vir- 
ginia between 34° -38° N. Lat., and of the second the establishment 
of colonies between 41 "-45° N. Lat. The fleet of the London Com- 

* The Spanish colonization in the South was primarily for the purpose of obtaining gold, and this 
they hoarded. The antagonism between England and Spain grew out of the Reformation. Most of 
the wealth with which iPhilip II built the Invincible Armada came from his American Colonists. It 
is estimated that by i6og more than $5,000,000,000 worth of gold and silver had been supplied. As 
Fiske aptly expresses it : " It was as the storehouse of the enemy's treasure and the chief source of 
his supplies that America first excited real interest among the English people."— John Fiske, Old Vir- 
.ginia and Her Neighbors, Vol. i, p. 9. . 




Geographic Iiifiitcncc on the Economic History of Virginia. 3 

pany, consisting of three vessels, sailed December 20, 1606, under the 
command of Captain Christopher Newport, and arrived at the mouth 
of Chesapeake Bay, April 26th. They landed on the Cape and built 
a fort, naming both after Prince Henry. This was only to be used 
as a camp while selecting a suitable place for the establishment of 
the colony. The experience of the previous expedition had 
thoroughly convinced them that the most important essential was 
the ease and perfection with which the place could be protected 
from the attacks of the Indians. At the mouth of the largest 
river which had been sighted from the bay they found an island 
of sufficient size, connected with the mainland by a small isthmus. 
On this they landed May 13th, 1607, and planted the first permanent 
English colony in Virginia, which they named Jamestown. On 
the 22d of June, Captain Newport sailed for England with a 
cargo of sassafras and fine wood for wainscoting, the first ship- 
ment of Virginia products. Edwin I. Wingfield was appointed 
president, but was deposed, and succeeded by John Ratcliite. 
The location proved very unhealthy, and many died of malaria. 
At the end of the first year the supplies were exhausted, and the 
Indian raids, starvation, and disease had much reduced the dis- 
heartened ranks. Captain John Smith was the only man in the 
colony who could inspire the colonists to perseverance. He was 
equal to the task when present, but his great desire to find a river 
flowing into the South Sea kept him almost constantly on exploring 
expeditions. It is stated that he was at Jamestown but three days 
in three months during the summer of 1608. In September of this 
year he visited the great Chief Powhatan at Werozvocomoco, a 
village on the north bank of Pamaunke (York) River, for the pur- 
pose of delivering presents from the King. In the course of the 
interview he asked Powhatan about the country beyond the moun- 
tains, occupied by the powerful Monacans ; and especially as to 
where salt water could be found in that direction. Powhatan de- 
clared with emphasis that there was no salt water beyond the moun- 
tains, and drew on the ground a map of that region. We may be- 
lieve that it was very convincing to Captain Smith, as his further 
explorations were chiefly confined to the Chesapeake Bay and its 
shorter tributaries. Smith's map of Virginia was based upon per- 
sonal observations and the information supplied by Powhatan. By 
means of pictures he depicted the game resources, which were to the 
early settlers one of the important economic resources. While 
Smith was exploring the Tidewater country most of the Colonists 
at Jamestown were engaged in gathering "gold dust," with which 



4 Geograpliic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 

the return vessels were loaded ; but on their arrival in England it 
proved to be "fool's gold," being nothing more than micaceous earth 
brought down by the streams from the crystalline rock area of 
Middle Virginia. The first Colonial attempts at manufacture are 
set forth in Smith's address to the Royal Council of Virginia sitting 
in London, which message was sent by Captain Newport in 1608: 
"In their absence [the boats] I followed the new begun works of 
pitch and tar, glass, soap ashes and clap-boards."* 

In the same message we have a reflection of the character of the 
colonists of this period: "When you send again [workmen], I entreat 
you to send but 30 carpenters, husbandmen, gardiners, fishermen, 
blacksmiths, masons and diggers of trees ' roots, well provided, 

rather than 1,000 of such as we have These are the causes 

that have kept us in Virginia from laying such a foundation as ere 
this might have given much better content and satisfaction ; but as 
yet you must not look for any profitable returns. "f 

The colonists found it difficult and dangerous to get an adequate 
meat supply from the forests, so Gates sent his admiral, George 
Summers, to the Bermudas in 1609 to capture hogs, which they had 
seen in abundance while shipwrecked on one of the islands. During 
the same year sheep, horses, goats, and poultry were introduced from 
Europe, and the following year cattle were brought from the West 
Indies. The extended use of meats made salt a much-needed article, 
and to meet this demand Sir Thomas Dale, deputy governor of the 
colony, detailed a party in 1612 from the Jamestown settlement to 
go to the Kingdom of Accazvmackc (Accomac) to manufacture salt 
by boiling salt water. This first white settlement on the Eastern 
Shore was named Dale's Gift, and, because of the island's separate- 
ness from the other colonies, the Kings of England for many years 
addressed all of their decrees to the "faithful subjects in ye colonies 
of Virginia and ye Kingdom of Accazvmackc.". .It was in the same 
year that John Rolfe (who was married to Pocahontas in 1614) 
began the cultivation of tobacco. Dale always had a strong faith 
in the possibilities of the new country. In a letter home in 1610 he 
said: "Take the four best kingdoms of Europe, and put them all 
together, and they may no way compare with this country for com- 
modity and goodness of soil." It was he who abolished the system 
of industrial communism which had been in vogue since the forma- 
tion of the colony. Each colonist was now allowed three acres for 
cultivation, for which he was to pay a yearly rent of 6 bushels of 



* Smith's works, pp. 442-445. f Ibid. 



Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 5 

corn. The economic effect was magical ; as a result industry and 
thrift began to prevail among the lawless and thriftless. 

Until i6i6 lumber was the only export of the colonies, and this 
in small quantities, chiefly in the form of clap-boards. During the 
year Captain Yeardley began the extensive cultivation, of tobacco* 
which was indigenous to the country, and generally used by the 
Indians. Yeardley's predecessor Dale had enacted a law requiring 
that the cultivation of corn should take precedence over tobacco ; but 
Yeardley set this at defiance, and encouraged the tobacco industry, 
to the neglect of all others. So great was the demand in England 
that, in 1619, the King placed a duty of a shilling per pound on 
tobacco, when the market price was only five shillings. The charter, 
however, called for exemption beyond 5 per cent., and settlement 
was eft'ected by a compromise, in which one of the considerations 
was that the cultivation be forbidden in the Kingdom. In 1621, a 
monopolyt of the tobacco trade was granted to certain individuals, 
at whose request a proclamation was issued, limiting the exportation 
to 55,000 pounds. The close of the year showed the market to be 
overstocked, and the King advised the colonists to turn their atten- 
tion more to the cultivation of corn and the raising of stock. To 
this end the tobacco crop was limited to 100 pounds per man. The 
introduction of slavery in 1622 fostered the tobacco industry still 
more, to the almost entire suppression of all others. The situation 
was critical, and to meet it the Assembly enacted laws authorizing 
the following bounties: 2 pounds of tobacco for every pound of 
flax or hemp ready for the spindle; 3 pounds for every yard of 
linen cloth a yard wide; 5 pounds for every yard of woollen cloth 
made in the province; and 10 pounds for every dozen pairs of 
woollen or worsted stockings. The legislature of 1623 ordered all 
settlers to plant mulberry trees; and in 1656 an act was passed im- 
posing a fine on every planter who failed to have one mulberry tree 
to every 10 acres of land in his possession, but the labour surplus was 
inadequate for the silk industry even if all other conditions had been 
favourable. Prior to 1609 Smith had established three settlements: 
Jamestoivn, the seat of the colonial government; Nansemond, about 
30 miles below Jamestown ; and Powhatan, 6 miles below the James 
(Powhatan) River Falls. One hundred and twenty men were al- 
lotted to each, and the industrial operations radiated from these 
centres. We may feel sure that the early promoters were strongly 
imbued with the modern "boom" idea from the number of cities 



* Indian name, icpJ'Oivoc. 

t This was the first tobacco trust organized in the history of the world. 



6 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 

which were founded only in name — James City, Elizabeth City, 
Charles City, City of Henricus (Henricopolis). The agricultural 
development decreed the conquering of the wilderness, and the 
names of the imaginary cities survived as the names of counties, the 
City of Henricus* being changed to Henrico. A reference to the 
map will show that each of these counties had a water front on at 
least two sides. In fact, streams constitute the political boundaries 
of the counties of Tidewater Virginia to an extent not to be found 
in any other province in the world. 

By 1624 the colony extended from the mouth of the James River 
to the James River Falls, with plantations on both sides, and covered 
most of the peninsula between the James and York Rivers (the lat- 
ter known as Charles River until 1642). Almost every plantation 
could be directly reached by boat. Although Captain John Smith 
left Virginia in 1614 not to return, he predetermined the sections 
most favourably situated for successful occupancy by his methodic 
study and careful observations made during his frequent river expe- 
ditions. His economic deductions were largely based upon what he 
saw. The condition of the Indians gave the most reliable evidence 
as to the resources immediately available. He found the tribes of 
the Lower Potomacf and Rappahannock comfortable and surpris- 
ingly peaceable. The tribes were also far more numerous, being 34 
tribes north of the Rappahannock, and only 9 on the south side.:|; 
The superior oyster fisheries of the rivers and the neighbouring 
Chesapeake Bay waters made possible the friendly social relations 
by making easy the struggle for existence. Port Royal (Caroline 
County) was the terminus of the oyster beds. Fishing was not good 
above that point, and the stony land precluded cultivation with the 
wooden and stone implements, as a result of which we have no 
record of an Indian tribe residing permanently in the region. The 
tribes met with in the neighbourhood of Fredericksburg (Spottsyl- 
vania County) and Falmouth (Stafford County) were representa- 
tives of the implacable warriors of the stony interior region ; which 
affords a striking proof of how much of the treachery and barbarity 
of primitive peoples is pressed upon them by the severity of the con- 
flict for existence, in which only the strongest, shrewdest, and most 
daring can survive. 



* Henricus, founded in loii, was located on Farrar's Island, as the peninsula was called (near 
Appomatox, Chesterfield County). 

+ The Indian name for the upper Potomac was Cohongoruton. It is so named in the Act of 1738, 
defining Frederick County. The south branch of the river was called Wappatomake. Lord Fairfax 
used the name Potomack and Wappatovvmack, and Cohongoruton disappeared. 

X Smith's Map of Virginia. 



GeograpJiic Iiiffitcncc on the Economic History of Virginia. T 

The Indians of the "Northern Neck" Country being friendly, their 
presence presented an additional inducement to English settlers, by 
reason of the profits to be realized from their trade. It was in this 
region that the next English settlements were founded. 

If tobacco was "king" in the James River country, the oyster may 
be aptly designated as queen in the "Northern Neck." 

In the establishment of an industrial system much depends upon 
the forces and conditions which give rise to the initiative. The ac- 
quirement of food and clothing constitutes the first essential. This 
obtained, the most profitable commodity, or means of exchange, is 
next to receive attention. The Virginia colonists had to meet the 
first by hunting, fishing, the cultivation of corn, raising of livestock, 
and bartering with the Indians. All of the conditions precluded a 
surplus of food stuffs, so that these are ruled out at this stage as 
possible commodities for exchange. But even if they had been pos- 
sible, the demand would have been so limited as to make the produc- 
tion unprofitable. They must produce a surplus of that for which 
there is a pressing demand in England to realize profitable results. 
What were the leading English imports? Iron and steel from 
Spain ; copper from Sweden ; wine, salt and canvas from France ; 
silks and velvets from Italy; spices from Asia; and naval supplies, 
such as tar, pitch, cordage, masts and yards, from Russia and Poland. 
The search of the colonists for gold and copper had been futile ; in 
1620, iron mines were opened at the James River Falls, but aban- 
doned because inferior; the grape was neither adapted to the 
climate nor soil; great difficulty was experienced in supplying the 
domestic demand for salt; the silk industry was then, and has ever 
been impracticable, because of non-adaptability of climate and lack 
of labour supply; and the great cost of transporting timbers made 
it impossible to compete with closer markets. Virginia's only hope, 
therefore, was to create a new demand, of which a surplus could be 
produced, for the purchase of the numerous supplies necessary to 
every country in the establishing stage. Fortune crowned the crisis 
in the introduction of tobacco. It is for this reason that tobacco has 
been called "king." 

It seems timely here to inquire into the economic foundations of 
Virginia society, which has always been a type of Southern society, 
and why it so radically differed from that of New England. The 
social status of any differentiated society or community is fixed by 
the elemental habits and characteristics of the individuals compris- 
ing the group ; and by the environment — the objective forces brought 
to bear on the subjective individual. Of these forces, the geographic 



8 Geographic Inflncnce on the Economic History of Virginia. 

conditions and the economic relations are by far the most important. 
Let us first inquire into the nature of the individuals. The early 
Virginia colonists were essentially of the English gentry on the one 
hand, and of the free and bond servant classes on the other, with a 
few who could lay claim to the nobility. This condition existed be- 
cause the enterprise was primarily commercial, and, in consequence, 
appealed to the moneyed interests ; which in turn required labour 
for carrying out its purposes. The promoters had neither political 
nor ecclesiastical grievance, and were not bound by the stress of 
poverty, so they adhered to their old habits, manners, tastes and 
styles of living, in so far as the new conditions permitted. The 
same strict adherence to the Church of England, and largely to the 
Crown, was also maintained for more than half a century. The 
plantation owners prospered, and increased in influence in the politi- 
cal arena to a position which they had found impossible in the mother 
country. The whole tendency was toward the establishment of 
large holdings. The extreme eastern coast was malarial, while 
further inland the climate was healthful, the soil fertile, and an 
abundance of game, which feature alone was very inviting to the 
English gentleman. England pushed slave labour into the colony 
as rapidly as it could be utilized. The dissolution of the Company 
in 1624 augmented the tendency to large estates, as its policy had 
been restraining in a measure, by making the landowners of two 
kinds — the planter, who held grants of land proportionate to his con- 
tribution of money and emigrants, and the small holder, who re- 
ceived an allotment as remuneration for working on the Company 
land during a certain period. On the dissolution no change was 
made in the tenure, except that the free emigrant had to go out at 
his own expense, and bound in an agreement to bring the land under 
cultivation within a certain period or forfeit the right of ownership. 
Under this regime the yeomanry class did not progress, for the 
reason that they lacked administrative ability; and having grown 
accustomed to routine labour and dependence, became easily dis- 
couraged under the pressure of poverty, responsibility, and the 
stronger external hand of the landed aristocracy. Becoming poorer, 
they became free servants. 

The increased prosperity of the planter prompted to a life of 
ease and independence. In most cases he was not even placed under 
the necessity of finding a market, or of concerning himself as to the 
ways and means of securing supplies, since foreign vessels loaded 
with a variety of merchandise came up to the plantation wharves to 
exchange their goods for tobacco. So satisfactorv were the returns 



Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 

of soil tillage that the manufacturing enterprises were not prose- 
cuted assiduously, except for those which could be done at home, by 
way of utilizing the surplus labour. The attitude of the representa- 
tive planter is vouched for in the words of Thomas Jefferson: 
"Such is our attachment to agriculture, and such our preference for 
foreign manufactures that, be it wise or unwise, our people will cer- 
tainly return to the raising of raw materials, and exchange them for 
finer manufactures than they are able to execute themselves. The 
political economists of Europe have established it as a principle that 
every state should endeavor to manufacture for itself, and this prin- 
ciple, like many others, we transfer to America without calculating 
the difference of circumstance which should produce a difference of 
result."* 

I have not heard the opinion expressed, but I beheve that slavery 
exerted a characteristic influence on Virginia society as marked as 
was its influence on the industrial system. It should be remem- 
bered that up to this time the great majority of those who had set 
the pace of a social system so individualistic as to stand out for 
generations as characteristic of the typical Virginian were slave 
owners and slave workers, and not slave traders. Most of the 
slaves of this larger class felt themselves not only a constituent part 
of the plantation, but an indispensable part ; and so they were under 
the existing regime. This accorded to the servant a feeling of self- 
importance, which found its counterpart in the personality of the 
master. The rich of every age are very much the same in being 
caterers to the recognition of the Court, the nobility, and the rich; 
and we may as truly add, to the humble, joyous— and in some cases 
worshipful — recognition of those who serve them. The latter 
existed in the person of the "old-fashioned darkey," as he can never 
be again. The plantation equipped with a full retinue of servants 
and slaves felt that it was a sufficiency unto itself, which, to an ex- 
tent incalculable, fostered the clannish tendency toward seclusion, 
and intensified the ultra-individualism of the cavalier type. 

Prior to 1688 Virginia adhered strictly to the Church of England, 
even to legislating against the Puritans, Quakers, and Separatists; 
and contested vigorously the position of the Presbyterians within 
her border. But while this ecclesiastical attitude had been main- 
tained, and its power exercised, the idea of civil liberty was gaining 
strength in many parts. This had been brought about in part by 

* Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, p. 225 (1781). After the rupture with England, manufacturing 
•was much more emphasized than before. The domestic wants were largely supplied by home manu- 
factures, until the development of factory enterprises in New England, which were not extensive at 
the time Jefferson wrote his " Notes on Virginia." 



10 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 

oppressive taxation, and the indirect connection of the House of 
Burgesses with the Crown ; but in an important sense through the 
influence of that prosperous, free, easy, isolated, independent Hfe. 
As the civil attitude changed, the loyalty to the Established Church 
began to weaken. In 1696 a law was passed fixing the salary of 
every clergyman at 16,000 pounds of tobacco. The price so fluctu- 
ated that this made the salary quite variable. In some parishes only 
"Orinoco" could be raised, which was inferior to "sweet-scented."^ 
The books of that time bear frequent reference to a promotion from 
an "Orinoco parish" to a "sweet-scented parish." Where tobacco 
was not grown the Established Church was without representation, 
and it was "in the tobaccoless wilderness voices were heard of the 
Baptists, Quakers and less definable dissenters, who were directing 
the pioneer ax to the root of the established tree that protected the 
throne."* 

The House of Burgesses passed an Act in 1755 enabling debtors 
to pay their tobacco obligations in money at the rate of i6s. 8d. per 
hundred pounds. The price of tobacco rose by reason of the 
drought, and many clergymen demanded payment in tobacco. A 
number of suits were instituted during the succeeding years, the 
final one being the appeal of Rev. John Camm to England in 1767. 
This case was heard before Colonel John Henry, the father of 
Patrick Henry. Patrick Henry had always been loyal to the Church 
and the Throne, but he grew so indignant over the controversies 
that he flamed out in such an arraignment of the clergy as to break 
the authority of the Established Church, and thus became the darling 
of the Dissenters, the herald of the people's rights. As a result he 
was ardently supported when the Stamp Act agitation arose. + 

* * :!< >i: * H; * * 

The mountainous portion of the State was destined to produce a 
different type of society. We have seen how distinctly different 
were the characteristics of the Indians of the western part of the 
State (Monacans) and the eastern tribes. During the first century 
of Colonial histdry no attempt was made toward settlements in the 
mountains. They were not adapted to the use of slave labour, were 
frequented by the most treacherous Indians, and so remote from 

* Barons of the Potomac and Rappahannock. It was seen in the Chapter on Population that 
the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians were the leaders in the movement. 

+ The American Revolution really began with the resistance of the colonies to the irritating 
duties and regulations imposed by the Crown on the cultivation of tobacco. 

It should also be remembered that a long contest in the reign pf James I, which began with the 
discussion of the tobacco question, resulted in largely transferring the power from the Crown to the 
House of Commons. 



Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 11 

market and void of transportation facilities as to be wholly imprac- 
ticable for occupation. 

The competition of slaves was very irritating to the free labour- 
ers of the East, and it was difficult to obtain small holdings, so 
dominant and domineering was the influence of the large owners. 
As a result, the bravest, strongest and most resolute of the free 
labourers forced their way westward and joined the Scotch-Irish 
Presbyterians*, who w^ere coming in large numbers to the Valley 
as w^ell as to the Piedmont frontier. These were the mountaineers 
of the eighteenth century, but must not be confused wath that class 
known as "poor whites," either according to present or past accept- 
ance of that term. It is true many of them were poor in possessions, 
but rich in valour, and came from the great middle class who had 
tired of landlord oppression in England, and slavery competition in 
eastern Virginia. The indolent, thriftless, lower class followed in 
their wake, but at a safe distance — far enough removed from the old 
settlements to eke out a bare existence by hunting and little work. 
On the mountains they remained in preference to subduing the great 
forests of the fertile intervening valleys, and there they are for the 
most part to be found to-day. In the middle of the eighteenth cen- 
tury the life of western Virginia compared with that of Tidewater as 
does the ranch life of the Rocky Mountains and the Plains with 
modern New England society life. From the first it was a life-and- 
death struggle, in which the weaklings were sure to go down. No 
man could stand alone, and so by ties of mutual sympathy and pro- 
tection they were united in hearty, unselfish fellowship. As a class 
they were clannish, and more or less superstitious; loyal in their 
friendships and inexorable in their hates, but brave, just, generous, 
and industrious. It was these iron-nerved, steel-sinewed stalwarts 
who formed a line of mountain outposts between the older settle- 
ments of the coast and the treacherous Indian tribes of the west. 
Not only did they drive the savages beyond the mountains but fol- 
lowed them into the plains, and broke for all time the powerful 
confederacy. It was also these who, in that memorable battle of 
King's Mountain, turned the tide of the Revolution. They repre- 
sent to-day a reserve force in the nation whose vitalizing lines are 
found to connect with all the throbbing centres of educational, com- 
mercial, and political activity. 

;Jc ****** * 

For the sake of comparison, let us question briefly why the social 



* See Chapter on Population. 



13 Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 

and industrial life of New England was so different from that of 
Virginia. 

In 1614 Captain John Smith made a trading expedition to that 
territory, at which time he changed the name from North Virginia 
to New England. Although his sojourn was ostensibly for pur- 
poses of trade, on his return to England he left Captain Thomas 
Hunt in charge of one vessel, presumably to establish a footing, 
looking toward a permanent settlement ; but Hunt enticed 27 Indians 
on board and sailed with them to Malaga, where he sold them to the 
Spanish at 20 pounds per head. This so enraged the Indians that 
they resented every effort toward colonization with great vigour and 
extreme ferocity. If there is anything which will put a people on 
their mettle "to do or die," it is an experience of exile for religious 
convictions ; so the Puritans, many of whom had taken refuge in 
Holland before the intolerable attitude of Queen Elizabeth, were 
best prepared to drive the wedge. It was a congregation of Inde- 
pendents or Brownists, the strictest sect of the Puritans, that landed 
from the Mayflower December nth, 1620, and others followed in 
rapid succession. The first colonists were as a rule poor, not hav- 
ing had the opportunity to accumulate, and the wealthier and more 
tractable Dissenters remained in England until the venture was 
tested. Those who came sought freedom above everything else, and 
expected to pay the price in unrelenting toil. The conditions placed 
upon them a strong community of interest, wdiich had been growing 
since the foundation of Protestantism. They were thoughtful, 
sober, and economical. Being parties to a common cause and par- 
ticipants in a common lot, they became naturally characterized by 
unanimity and equipoise. Life to them had been a severe drill in 
meeting the emergency, which developed the genius of invention, 
and prepared them in all respects for distinction along the lines 
which were pursued later so successfully. 

The soil was not fertile and slave labour proved unprofitable. 
The South needed labourers and purchased them. English vessels 
were monopolizing southern traffic, so New England naturally de- 
cided to build ships and participate in the profits. As carriers, the 
opportunity of brokerage presented itself, and they shared in the pro- 
fits of sale and distribution. New trading enterprises were contagi- 
ous, and the business expanded with the traffic. The Revolution came, 
the conclusion of which ruled England out as neither a desirable 
competitor in transportation nor in the traffic of slaves and mer- 
chandise. New England stood ready to enter upon her new era of 
prosperity. It is true that the moral reaction against slave owner- 



Geographic Influence on the Economic History of Virginia. 13 

ship had already become strong, but an earnest plea was made for 
the trade to tide her over the financial stress. This granted, her 
profits grew into a large surplus. Since the importation of slaves 
could continue no longer than 1808, the traders of New England 
were naturally on the lookout for investment opportunities, for the 
finding of which their extensive transportation and trade relations 
offered the best opportunity. They studied the methods by which 
England was growing rich. The manufacture of clothing consti- 
tuted one of her most profitable industries, and Whitney's discovery 
of the cotton-gin, which revolutionized the production of cotton in 
the South, was New England's opportunity for the establishment 
of the American textile industry on even a more profitable basis than 
the English system. The manufacturing interests prospered, and 
the shipping interests suffered no loss, as the South became a large 
exporter of cotton. We conclude from this brief review that, 
just as the South from the very beginning of her history naturally 
developed along agricultural lines, so New England, finding herself 
at a disadvantage in the cultivation of the soil, naturally turned her 
attention to manufacture, trade and commerce. 



PHYSIOGRAPHY OF VIRGINIA. 



BY 



G. T. SURFACE, M.S. 



The surface features are so closely connected with the geological 
history, and this in turn is so important in the determination of 
economic control, that we will discuss the physiographic phase from 
the view-point of geologic grouping and sequence. It is our purpose 
to give the reader a consistent portrayal of the Virginia land-mass 
at logical intervals during its physiographic evolution. The conclu- 
sions arrived at are based upon the most accurate information obtain- .. 
able, in the absence of a complete topographic or physiographic sur- 
vey of the State. As viewed from the standpoint of origin the land- 
mass divides itself into two major divisions: I. Appalachian Belt; 
and, II. Coastal Plain Belt. 

Appalachian Belt. — The classification recognized under this 
division is somewhat arbitrary, but we believe it is entirely in har- 
mony with the similarity and continuity of geographic control, which 
centred about the original Atlantic land-mass until towards the 
close of the Mesozoic era. 

(A). Archaean system of the Archaean period. 

(B). Taconic system of the Middle Silurian period. 

(C). Appalachian system of the post-Carboniferous period. 

(D). Palisade system of the Jurassic period. 

A. The Archaean System. 

This represents the older Appalachian belt, or the Appalachian 
protasis, which extends in a narrow peninsular band from Canada 
to central Georgia. It is continuous through Virginia, and the 
present exposure varies in width from lo to 40 miles. It is probable 
that the materials of the Taconic and Palisade systems were de- 
posited in valleys and bays which had been carved out of the Arch- 
aean land-mass,' or in synclinal troughs formed therein by elevation 
and depression. This would indicate that the area extended farther 



2 Physiography of Virginia. 

eastward at the close of the period. The enormous amount of ma- 
terial supplied for the formation of the Appalachian system adds 
evidence to the same conclusion. We can form no estimate of the 
height of the land-mass, but all of the conditions lead to the belief 
that it was thoroughly mountainous in type, and probably varied 
from 5,000 to 25,000 feet in elevation. Even with this estimate, we 
must suppose it to have been a region of elevation during a part 
of the Paleozoic era to account for the immense sedimentary de- 
posits of the Appalachian system. The region suffered re-elevation 
during the elevation of the Appalachian system, as shown by the 
west-northwest overthrust of the crystalline beds on the lower Si- 
lurian beds, and the intense metamorphism to which the rocks have 
been subjected. Since the thrust force which produced the newer 
Appalachians was from the southwest, the eft'ect on the Archaean 
area must have been to increase the area along the western border 
and to make the topography more precipitous along the western 
flank of what might be designated the Piedmont Chain. The Arch- 
aean area was of sufficient elevation in post-Paleozoic time to effect- 
ually cut off the new Appalachian region from an eastward drain- 
age. The region varies in elevation from 300 to 1,200 feet, increas- 
ing in general as we progress westward. The drainage is entirely 
into the Atlantic, and has a uniformly southeast direction. The 
Potomac, Rappahannock, York, James, and Roanoke Rivers are the 
most important streams. They are transverse, in that they flow at 
angles to the direction of strike of the intricately folded and foliated 
structure ; and they are antecedent, in that their position was fixed 
prior to the rejuvenation of the old topography. 

The zvatersheds between the drainage systems are indistinct, which 
is characteristic of a region which has reached advanced maturity. 

The valleys are usually narrow but productive, and the interven- 
ing ridges vary in productivity according to the conditions of pre- 
vious cultivation, the nature of the underlying rock, and the degree 
of decomposition. The percentage of iron present is greatest along 
the western border. 

Large beds of iron ore occur in the Archaean series. The rocks con- 
sist chiefly of granites, gneisses, syenites, diorites,gabbros. and various 
schists, and cover most of the region known as the Piedmont Plateau, 
which extends from the Fall Line (where the rivers emerge from the 
harder rocks of the inland on to the Coastal Plain) to the slope and 
crest of the Blue Ridge. These crystalline and metamorphosed 
rocks are believed to represent a part of the original crust of the 
earth, and to have been first elevated by the unequal contraction of 



Physiography of Virginia. 3 

the outer cooling crust on the inner molten mass. Most of the rocks 
weather easily by the decomposition of the iron, alkalis and phos- 
phates, which, when entirely removed, leave a light sterile micaceous 
or sandy soil. The percentage of these elements left largely de- 
termines the productivity of the residual soils, which makes a chem- 
ical study of them very necessary for the intelligent application of 
fertilizers. 

The present Piedmont topography is that of a dissected plateau 
upland, the seaward remnant of a broad, gently rolling surface, 
which once extended westward beyond the xA.Ueghany Front, north- 
ward along the Appalachians into New^ York and New England, and 
southward across the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee to an un- 
known distance. This peneplain condition of the Jurassic period 
was first described and studied by Professor W. M. Davis in Penn- 
sylvania and New Jersey, and was named by him the Schooley 
Peneplain/^ Professor Davis describes the Piedmont Plateau in 
its present dissected stage as illustrative of the peneplain. "It is a 
peneplain, not monotonously smooth, but undulating in graceful 
swells, between gentle depressions.'' — (Davis.) Mr. Willis, of the 
United States Geological Survey, in his physiographic study of the 
Northern Appalachians, gave the name of Kittatinny Plain to this 
older base-level stage, f 

B. Taconic System. (Middle Silurian.) 

We will see under the discussion of the Appalachian System that 
at the beginning of the Paleozoic era there was being formed a great 
geosyncline along the western border of the Archaean land-mass. 
There was another geosyncline being formed at the same time along 
the eastern border. The indications are that there was a chain of 
these depressions, some of which were probably troughs of embayed 
synclinal valleys within the crystalline area. They were closely 
parallel to the Archsean protaxis and the Appalachian geosyncline, 
and extended from the region which marks the boundary between 
Canada, New England and New York, through Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land and Virginia, and south-westward. These deposits thickened 
in the gradually sinking trough through the Cambrian and Ordo- 
vician periods, and at the close of the latter period were elevated 
into what has been called the Taconic System. The upturning re- 
sulted in great flexures and faults, and extreme metamorphism. ,The 
rocks present the same general characteristics as the Cambrian and 

* Davis, W. M., " The Rivers of Northern New Jersey." National Geographic Magazine, i8go, 
vol. II., pp. 81-110. 

t Bailey Willis— Physiography of the United States, p. 189. 



4 Physiography of Virginia. 

Ordovician rocks of the Appalachian system, with the addition that 
the shales, sandstones and Hmestones are highly metamorphosed. 
The shales of Buckingham County have been definitely identified as 
belonging to theTrenton and Hudson epochs, and are a part of the 
Taconic series. The beautiful mottled brown and reddish brown 
marbles of east Tennessee belong to the same series (Hawkins and 
Knox counties). It continued a region of elevation, and therefore 
of denudation, through the Upper Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, 
Triassic and Jurassic periods, for no beds with marine fossils have 
been found over the area. 

The series has suffered greatly from decomposition and erosion, 
which were facilitated by the crushing and disruption of the beds 
as caused by the violent crustal movements. 

Great changes must have been wrought in the structure and sur- 
face features of the Taconic area by the forces which raised the 
Appalachian geosyncline into the towering Appalachian Chain. 

The residual soils from the metamorphosed limestones are the 
most productive which occur in this belt. The shales and slates 
give rise to soils that are responsive to fertilizers and improved 
cultivation. 

The streams cut across the strata as in the case of the crystalline 
series of the Archaean system. 

C. Appalachian Sysfcni. 

Throughout the long Paleozoic era the material for the construc- 
tion of the Appalachian system was in process of formation, at the 
expense of the surrounding crystalline area. These sediments were 
deposited in a great geosynclinal trough, in which the rate of sub- 
sidence was so nearly equal to the rate of deposition that almost the 
entire thickness was accumulated in shallow water. At the close 
of the era the crustal movements began, through which the strata 
were elevated and compressed into a series of parallel, inclined or 
overturned folds, with an elevation of 20,000 to 40,000 feet. In 
some places the overturned folds pass into overthrnst faults. One 
of these in the southern Appalachians of Virginia represents a dis- 
location of 5,000 to 10,000 feet, by which the Lower Silurian lime- 
stone is brought in juxtaposition with the Lower Carboniferous sand- 
stone. This fault so weakened the strata through crushing and dis- 
ruption as to invite maximum erosion and decomposition, result- 
ing in the removal of all the strata above the Silurian. H. B. Rogers 
pointed out that the lines of faults in A'irginia are continuous with 



Physiography of Virginia. 5 

the flexures in Pennsylvania. The tanks may therefore be designated 
as flexure faults. The structure of the Appalachians closely re- 
sembles that of the Alps. The thrust force, however, in the case 
of the Alps was toward the ocean, while that of the Appalachians 
was from the ocean. The pressure, being greatest from the ocean 
side, gave rise to asymmetrical and inverted folds, and the mountain 
ranges decline into an elevated plateau on the landward side, with 
feebly undulating or horizontal stratification. This is exemplified 
in the West A'^irginia Highland and the Cumberland Plateau of 
Tennessee. This high mountain region was worn down to an un- 
dulating plain (Schooley or Kittatinny peneplain) during the Trias- 
sic and Jurassic periods, with surviving ridges here and there of more 
resistant structure. 

Towards the close of the Jnrassic period the region was sub- 
jected to a moderate and gradual re-elevation, attaining a maximum 
in Virginia of 1,400 feet (Willis). The arch-lines follow the gen- 
eral strike direction of the Appalachian folds. This period of ele- 
vation rejuvenated the streams on the uplifted plain, making the 
valleys deepest where the elevation was greatest, and most shallow 
where the uplift was least. A revolution of the drainage system 
was initiated over a part of the region in the denudation attack along 
the lines of induced weakness. The change was greatest over the 
Appalachian region proper, since most of the dynamical agencies 
work more effectively on sedimentary rock structure. The excava- 
tion of the valleys along the belts of weaker structure has resulted 
in a physiography more nearly approaching the mountain type than 
existed at the close of the re-elevation of the region. Most of the 
remnant ranges and the intervening valleys are the result of cir- 
cum-denudation, the height of the ridges and the width of the val- 
leys being the expression of the relative strength of the strata, and 
the amount of subsequent elevation. The transverse streams are 
contemporaneous with the larger longitudinal ones, but have only 
been able to carve out for themselves narrow valleys or precipitous 
gorges. From the standpoint of soil production they have added 
but little; but their economic value cannot be overestimated, since 
they have established natural locations for the great transportation 
routes across the Alleghany Mountains, and present ideal conditions 
for the most economic utilization of their superior water power. ^ 

The Appalachian anticlinorium has lost its physiographic identity, 
but it is readily revealed in a study of the structure as exposed by 
the stream dissection and surface denudation. 

That part of the Appalachian System draining into the Atlantic 



6 Physiography of Virginia. 

Ocean is known as the Northern Appalachian, while the part south 
of New River, draining into the Gulf, is the Southern Appalachian. 

The following subdivisions of the system are readily recognized 
in a topographic study: (i) Blue Ridge; (2) Valley; and (3) 
Appalachia. 

(i) Blue Ridge. This stands out as the most prominent physical 
feature in the State. With an elevation of 1,460 feet at Harper's 
Ferry, where the Potomac breaks through the Blue Ridge, it in- 
creases southwestward, being 3,993 feet in Bedford County (Peaks 
of Otter), and reaches a maximum of 5,700 feet in Balsam Moun- 
tain, Grayson County, Virginia. This is a continuous barrier from 
the Maryland to the North Carolina boundaries, excepting four 
water-gaps and occasional wind-gaps. In its higher altitudes the 
crest line is marked by a hard, resistant sandstone of the Lower Cam- 
brian period. The southern portion expands into a fan-like plateau, 
which is the watershed for the waters flowing into the Atlantic 
Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. The counties of Floyd, Carrol. 
Grayson, Franklin, and a part of Montgomery are situated in the 
plateau portion. In North Carolina the plateau topography is inten- 
sified, and the elevation increases to a maximum of 7,000 feet. 

The eastern flank of the Blue Ridge consists for the most part of 
highly metamorphosed Archaean rocks which formed the Paleozoic 
shore of the interior sea. and were thrust up by the great forces 
which gave birth to the Appalachian System. Along the crest, the 
western flank, and the western foot-hills, the Cambrian rocks pre- 
dominate. Well-identified fossiliferous shales of the Lower and 
Middle Cambrian occur near Natural Bridge, and at Balcony Falls 
(James River gorge through the Blue Ridge at Balcony Falls). 
So far as developed for minerals, this is the most unproductive 
region in the State. 

(2) The Valley. This is a continuation of the Great V^alley of 
east Tennessee, and becomes the Cumberland Valley in Maryland 
and Pennsylvania, the Kittatinny Valley of New Jersey, and the 
Newburg part of the Hudson River Valley in New York. It is 
the central part of the Greater Appalachian Valley, as described by 
Willis, which includes the Blue Ridge, the A'allev. and the Alle- 
ghany Ridges. The Valley region is that which lies between the 
western base of the Blue Ridge and the eastern base of the Alle- 
ghany Front. It is 15 to 30 miles in width, and 310 miles in length, 
making an area of about 5,000 square miles. It consists of the 
following minor valleys: The Shenandoah, 106 miles; James River, 
50 miles ; Roanoke River, 38 miles ; New River, 54 miles : and 



Physiography of Virginia. 7 

Holston River, 52 miles. For the purposes of convenience we may 
recognize three general sections: The northern, or Shenandoah Val- 
ley section ; the central, embracing that region between the head- 
waters of the Shenandoah and the Holston Rivers, which is cut by 
the transverse valleys of the James, Roanoke and New Rivers ; and 
the southern section, that part drained by the Holston River. 

Viewed topographically, it is a broad, gently rolling plain, with 
the floor dissected by minor drainage systems. The elevation in- 
creases south-westward and westward, being 242 feet above tide 
at the mouth of the Shenandoah, and 1,687 ^^et where the Holston 
River crosses the State line. The maximum elevation of 1,700 feet 
is reached in Wythe County. The Shenandoah Plain was carved 
out of the Schooley Peneplain during the Tertiary period, and the 
subsequent elevation and denudation have brought it to its present 
topographic condition. 

The soil of the valley is prevailingly limestone, and it is by far 
the most productive of the natural divisions. George Washington* 
realized its great possibilities when he wrote: "In soil, climate and 
production, in my opinion, it will be considered, if it is not con- 
sidered so already, as the Garden of America." 

There is no marked decrease of fertility as we pass from the 
bottoms to the uplands. The bottoms are utilized intensively and 
extensively for cultivation, and the uplands for grazing. 

Settlements were made in the region as early as 1732. Several 
of the earlier ones were exterminated, but the natural conditions 
were so favourable that each depredation by the Indians inspired 
the settlers to stronger and more persistent resistance. 

The position of the Valley topographically marks it out as a 
natural transportation route, so we find the Norfolk and Western 
Railroad traversing it from Bristol, which is on the Virginia-Ten- 
nessee line, to Roanoke; from this point the Shenandoah Valley 
extends to Harper's Ferry, on the Virginia-West Virginia-Mary- 
land line. 

(3) Appalachia, or Alleghany Ridges. This area embraces the 
region between the Valley and the Alleghany Front, which is the 
eastern border of the Alleghany Plateau, and is made of a series of 
ridges of northeast-southwest direction, alternating with narrow 
trough-like valleys. This general topography is interrupted where 
intersected by the transverse valleys, previously referred to. An ex- 
amination of the ridges shows a remarkably accordant topography. 
They are believed to be the remnant of a plain of advanced topo^ 

* Letter to Sir John Sinclair, 1796. 



8 Physiography of Virginia. 

graphic maturity formed during the Mesozoic era, which was 
continuous from Piedmont to the Alleghany Plateau, called by Davis 
the Schooley Peneplain, and by Willis the Kittatinny Peneplain. 
The region under discussion has been reduced to its present topo- 
graphic condition since the Jurassic period by denudation and periods 
of elevation. 

The ridges owe their elevation chiefly to the fact that the Car- 
boniferous conglomerates and sandstones were depressed below the 
general level of the Kittatinny Peneplain, and thus escaped being 
worn away during the production of that feature. Subsequent 
elevation and denudation have removed the weakened anticlinal 
rocks, and left the synclinal remnants of hard sandstone standing 
out in relief, as protecting caps to the softer strata beneath. 

Like the land of the Valley, the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany 
Front, these ridges increase in general elevation southward. Many 
of them exceed 3,000 feet. Elliot's Knob, 20 miles west of Staun- 
ton, has an elevation of 4,473 feet. 

The Appalachia and Valley topography of southwest Virginia 
has been materially influenced by a series of faults which produced 
a displacement of 500 to 12,000 feet. The most important we may 
designate the SaltviUe or North Holston fault, with a maximum dis- 
placement of 10,000 feet ; the IValker Mountain fault, with a max- 
imum displacement of about 10,000 feet, and seemingly continuous 
with the Great Fault of Northern Virginia ; and Draper Mountain 
fault, which by a maximum displacement of 12,500 feet brings up 
the Lower Silurian in Wythe and Pulaski County as a rugged moun- 
tain in the heart of the Valley. Two cross-faults pass from it, the 
Max Meadozvs in a westward direction, and the Pulaski in a north- 
western direction, toward the Walker Mountain fault; so that in 
the very heart of the Valley there is a block of Upper Silurian, 
Devonian and Lower Carboniferous, with Lower Silurian on two 
sides, Cambrian on the third, and Lower Carboniferous on the 
fourth.* 

The soils of the upper slopes are usually sandy and sterile, be- 
ing derived from the heavy siliceous sandstones and conglomerates. 
Beneath these strata occur the softer shales, some of which (the 
most calcareous) form fairly productive soils. The residual soils 
from limestone are always fertile, but most of the limestone strata 
have been removed by denudation. 

Because of the very broken topography common to the region, 
it is best adapted to grazing. The narrow valleys are made up of 

* American Journal of Science, 1887, p. 262. 



Physiography of Virginia. 9 

sandy calcareous alluvium, with often a strong impregnation of 
iron, and are productive. Cultivation is concentrated on the valleys 
and lowlands. 

More virgin forest survives in this belt than in any other part 
of the State, because of its inaccessibility. With the superior water 
power, which abounds throughout the region, the manufacture of 
hardwood products should become an important industry. 

This is the most productive region of the State in mineral re- 
sources. 

The bold south-eastward-facing escarpment of the Alleghany 
Plateau border constitutes the western border of the Alleghany 
trough. The State line is approximately marked by it, except in the 
southwest corner. 

From Little High Knob (26 miles south of the Potomac in the 
Virginia-West Virginia boundary) south west ward it declines in 
elevation. 

New River, flowing north-westward, enters the plateau in a canon 
1,500 feet deep. All the other streams crossing the Front rise in 
the plateau and flow south westward, to emerge from deep caiions 
into the minor valleys of the Great Valley. This peculiar drainage 
adjustment was brought about by a southeastward tilting of the 
northern part of the plateau in the elevation subsequent to the 
Schooley Peneplain stage, while south of the New River divide 
the tilting was to the southwest."'^ 

D. Palisade System. (Jurassic Period.) 

At the beginning of the Triassic period it is probable that the Vir- 
ginia land area extended farther east than it does at this time. During 
this period a series of narrow troughs was formed along the Atlantic 
slope, closely parallel to the trend of the Appalachians, as if occupy- 
ing orographic valleys in the chain ; but separated from them by the 
remnant ridges, which were still sufficiently high to eft'ectually cut 
off the Appalachian drainage from the east. The depressions could 
not have, been formed from an oceanic submergence, for no marine 
fossils have been found in the beds ; neither could they have resulted 
from stream action alone, or the nature of the rock structure would 
be different. The most probable supposition, therefore, is that the 
depressions represent the topography of the continental border after 
the Appalachian upturning. The water accumulated in these de- 
pressions in estuaries, fresh-water lakes, streams, bogs and swamps, 
and the depositions took place slowly and. to great depth. The rocks 

* Russell. I. C, Rivers of North America, p. 205. 



10 Physiography of Virginia. 

are mostly granitic sandstones, sandy shales, conglomerates, bitu- 
minous coal, along with carbonaceous shales. The extent of the 
conglomerate formation and the prevalence of the cross-bedded 
structure give evidence of the presence of strong currents. 

The longest trough seems to have been continuous from the Hud- 
son River south through New Jersey and Maryland, and into Vir- 
ginia as far as Cumberland County, a distance of 350 miles. It is 
probable that the Richmond area was a separate basin, 35 miles in 
length : and that the Pittsylvania area belongs to the Dan River 
trough of North Carolina, 100 miles in length (40 miles in North 
Carolina). The thickness of the beds in Virginia varies from 2,000 
to 3,000 feet. 

Productive coal beds occur in the Richmond* basin south of the 
Chickahominy River, being northwest of the city of Richmond, 
and separated from the northern part of the Richmond Mesozoic 
area by an interval of crystalline rocks about 3 miles in width. This 
is the only Mesozoic area in Virginia which retains the basin form 
in its present structural condition. 

The lateral pressure whch caused the elevation of the series was 
chiefly from the west, while that for the Appalachian system was 
chiefly from the east. The elevation took place at the close of the 
Triassic or in the early Jurassic period. Faults are frequent, and 
volcanic action became general, as shown by the numerous dykes 
which cut the series. 

The crustal movements, however, over most of the region resulted 
in monoclinal uplifts of low angle. Flexures are rare and local, 
the largest being that of the Richmond Basin. 

The Jurassic period was one of great denudation, when the high 
ranges of the Appalachians were much wasted away, and the newly- 
elevated Triassic beds were deeply eroded. 

The brown sandstone of this series supplies one of our most 
valuable building stones. 

Coastal Plain. — At the close of the Jurassic period there was 
a slight elevation ; but this was of short duration, and gave place 
to a strong eastward tilting of the land, which permitted the western 
transgression of the Upper Potomac formation. -f The Potomac 
series was formerly classified as Lower Cretaceous by Davis:|: and 
others, but the very careful stratigraphic work of the Maryland 



* U. S. G. S. Bull. No. 85, 1892 ; American Journal of Science, 1879. 
+ Physiography of Maryland, Part II , p. 144. 

:}: The Geological Dates of Origin of Certain Topographic Forms. (Jeol. Society America, 
Bull. II. 1890, pp. 545-548. 



Physiography of Virginia. 11 

Geological Survey has led to the classification of the lower beds of 
the series to the Jurassic. The Coastal Plain Series begins with the 
Potomac Group*, which were formed in a narrow band along the 
Atlantic Coast. Detached portions of the beds indicate that they 
formerly extended farther westward. The different members of the 
Coastal Plain series were formed by alternate periods of elevation 
and depression. It is beyond the province of this discussion to enter 
into a detailed description of the geological history. 

The series consists of sands, clays, loams and gravels, usually in 
the unconsolidated state, and arranged almost horizontally. 

The Tertiary period was inaugurated by an encroachment of the 
sea, and the Eocene deposits of sands and clays formed in a narrow 
band through New Jersey, Maryland and \^irginia. From Virginia 
southward the deposits become much broader. The crustal move- 
ments which closed the period were greater from south to north and 
from east to west, giving a southeast tilting. This is true for the 
whole- Coastal Plain series, as evidenced by the thickness of the beds, 
and the resulting topography. One of the salient topographic evi- 
dences is the increase in the southeastward deflection of the streams 
along the western border of the Coastal Plain (along the "Fall 
Line"). 

The early Aliocene witnessed a slight transgression of the sea, as 
a result of which the Upper Miocene beds were deposited on the 
Lower Eocene. By the close of the period the Atlantic and Gulf 
shores had attained almost their present outline. 

A broad belt, extending from the Piedmont margin to the centre of 
the Coastal Plain, is covered by a mantle of Lafayette (Pliocene) de- 
posits in the interstream area. These consist of clay, loam, sand and 
gravel, the latter being often ferruginous and cemented into a com- 
pact ironstone. The formation has an average thickness of about 
50 feet. 

With the close of the Tertiary the Atlantic Coast was raised about 
100 feet in the Virginia portion. On passing from Piedmont to the 
Coastal Plain, the stream character changes abruptly from rapids, 
falls, and steep gorges, to meandering streams over a terrace-bound 
lowland. The terraces were formed by the flood-plain condition ex- 
isting during the Pleistocene period. 

The great number of bays and estuaries are of comparatively 
recent origin, having been formed by the gradual subsidence of the 
Coastal Plain region, by which the rivers were drowned in their 
lower course through the transgression of the ocean. The Susque- 



* Physiography of Maryland, II, p. 121. 



12 Physiography of Virginia. 

hanna River formerly entered the ocean east of Cape^Henry, and the 
Potomac, James, York and Rappahannock were its important tribu- 
taries. The continued depression converted the lower Susquehanna 
Valley into the Chesapeake Bay, and embayed the mouths of the lower 
tributaries, making them tidal streams. Accomac and Northampton 
Counties became thereby separated from the mainland. 

The efifect was to make all of the important streams navigable in 
the Coastal Plain part of their course, and it gave to the State in the 
formation of Hampton Roads (estuary at the mouth of the James 
River) the finest American harbour. 

The elevation increases from sea-level to 150 feet on the western 
border. From the surface configuration the land is commonly desig- 
nated as iirst and second bottom, and the ridge country. The ftrst 
bottom, where protected from the tide, is very productive. It is in 
this portion that most of the swamp and marsh lands occur, all of 
which are covered with a variety of swamp and marsh grasses, which 
are partially utilized for grazing. Wherever this has been reclaimed 
it is exceedingly productive. Dismal Swamp* being the most notable 
example. No survey or special study has been made of these wild 
lands, but there is no doubt but that hundreds of square miles could 
be reclaimed at a cost which would leave a wide margin of profit. 

The second bottom is alluvial, as the first, and is the most valuable 
part of Tidewater. The subsoil is a dark red or yellow clay, with a 
moderate admixture of sand. The surface soils consist of sandy 
loams, which vary in colour and consistency according to the 
mineral and vegetable matter predominating. The ridge country has 
an elevation of 90 to 150 feet above sea-level. The soil is a light 
sand, easily eroded, and intractable to most methods of improvement. 
This section represents one of the most important economic problems 
in the State. Calcareous marls have proved very beneficial, and it is 
believed by some fertilizer authorities that most of the area can be 
brought into a state of at least fair productivity. 

Emory and Henry College, Emory, 
Virginia. 



* Dismal Swamp marks the southern limit of the bog mosses (Sphagnei) which are common 
further north, and the northern limit of the dwarf palmetto. 



CLIMATE AND BOUNDARIES OF VIRGINIA. 

BY 

G. T. SURFACE. 

Climate. 

In speaking of the climate of any region we naturally think of 
the weather conditions which prevail during the different seasons. 
Temperature, pressure, huniidity, absorption, radiation, winds, and 
currents are the determinant factors, all of which interact with in- 
finite variations. Just as the chemist and physicist are unable to 
dissect and measure the smaller units of physical substances, so the 
climatologist is unable to measure the smaller units of climatic cause 
and control. We can, however, determine the larger units, and out 
of these construct logical groupings. These, when studied in re- 
lation to each other at regular intervals through a long period, 
indicate with a fair degree of accuracy what may be considered as 
constants and variables. It is thus that we arrive at the science of 
climatology. It is only within modern times that it has advanced 
to the stage of becoming really an economic science, which w^e are 
conservative in saying is but in its infancy. 

The native wealth of any land area is determined largely by its 
climatic and geological environment. We are justified in affirming 
that Virginia holds an exceptionally favored position as to the 
harmony of these two wealth-determining factors, so that nothing 
is lacking, from the standpoint of natural essentials, for the largest 
and most economic development of its resources. 

The effect of climatic influences on the social order is also not to 
be lost sight of, or underestimated. The leading psychologists and 
anthropologists attribute the wide differentiation of races to differ- 
ences of geographic environment. Many of these designate climate 
as the controlling factor. Whether this may, or may not be true, 
we do know that climatic extremes do not conduce to the most 
efficient voluntary activity. 

The climatic belts of the State are in general coincident with the 
physical divisions. There are limited areas, which, by virtue of their 
position, are subject to more sudden changes and greater extremes. 

There are no high mountain ranges in the State, but the eleva- 
tion is continuous from the Eastern Shore to the Blue Ridge. We see 
in Table I (p. 97) a difference of 10° in the mean annual temperature 



2 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 

of Norfolk and Burke's Garden, the latter being an observation sta- 
tion in Tazewell County. This difference would be even greater but 
for the tempering effect of the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico on 
the prevailing southwestern winds. The rainfall varies somewhat 
with the seasons, but the general average for different years shows 
that no section can be said to be favoured above another. This aver- 
age ranges betwecH 35 and 45 inches. The rainfall of the Tidewater 
region would be considerably heavier than in the Blue Ridge, the 
Valley, and the Appalachia regions but for the re-saturation of the 
southwestern winds as they pass over the warm Gulf waters. Killing 
droughts and disastrous weather changes, such as are common to the 
region west of the Mississippi River, are unknown. In Texas we 
find a maximum difference in the mean annual temperature of 21.7°, 
and droughts are not infrequent in the northern and western portions 
of the State. Washington shows the widest range in the annual 
rainfall, Clearwater having an average of 126 inches and Mottinger 
Ranch an average of 11 inches. 

The Alleghany Highlands, extending for a distance of 200 to 500 
miles west of the State boundary, constitute an effectual barrier 
against the storms which originate in the Mississippi Valley region. 

The mean average annual temperature for the whole State is 
about 56°. 

Tidczvater. — The climate of this coastal region has a mean annual 
temperature of 58° to 61°, being greatly ameliorated by the warm 
north-west currents of the Atlantic, whose waters intermingle off the 
Florida coast with the heated waters of the Gulf Stream as they 
emerge from the Gulf of Mexico, and flow thereafter as a north- 
east current along the eastern coast of the United States. The soil 
of this belt is universally sandy or a sandy loam and, with a limited 
rainfall, or cold climate, would be of little economic value. Having 
an adequate rainfall and a warm-temperate climate, it becomes ideally 
adapted to the profitable industry of trucking, and holds first rank 
in this line of production. Much of the arid land of the west has a 
similar soil, and as favourable temperature requirements, but is prac- 
tically worthless for lack of rain supply or irrigating facilities. 

The average growing season* is from 7 to 7>4 months' duration. 
The winters are short and mild ; the snowfall usually light ; and the 
freezing never extreme or protracted. The summer's heat is so tem- 
pered by the sea-breezes as to seldom become oppressive. 

Malaria was common during the early Colonial days, but this has 
been largely exterminated by clearing the forests, draining the low- 

* Average duration from the last kill-ng frost in the spring to the first killing frost of autumn. 



Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 3 

lands and swamps, and the removal of tiie residences to more sani- 
tary locations. 

The mean annual temperature of the extreme southern Tidewater 
Counties averages about 60°. It is in this belt that cotton is grown 
to a limited extent. The mean annual temperature decreases grad- 
ually within narrow limits as we pass northward. This results both 
from the more inland geographic position, and the difference in lati- 
tude. The heaviest rainfall registered in Tidewater is in the Rich- 
■ mond, Williamsburg, Pamunkey and Gloucester Peninsulas, this belt 
being northwest of the Chesapeake Bay mouth. Even in the Virginia 
coast region there is considerable seasonal variation in the amou.nt 
of precipitation. . 

Middle-Piedmont. — The average mean annual temperature of this 
belt is 56°-58°. Lynchburg is near the Middle-Piedmont boundary 
line, and Manassas is on the line. In 1900, the average for Lynch- 
burg was 58.4°, and for Manassas 56.5° (in 1902 the average for 
Lynchburg was 56.8°, and for Manassas 54.1°). This climatic belt 
marks the area of the most succc^^sful tobacco culture. Tobacco is 
also cultivated with fair success in the mountain areas, with a mean 
annual temperature as low as 52 degrees. 

The growing season of the Piedmont belt is 2 to 3 weeks shorter 
than in Tidewater. 

There is greater variation in the prevailing direction of winds in 
this belt than exists in any other part of the State, because of its inland 
location with reference to both the mountains and the sea. The 
autumn winds are prevailingly northwest, but those of the other 
seasons fluctuate, the east and north east being most common in the 
spring and summer. The northwest autumn winds are usually dis- 
placed by western winds in the early winter, which in turn give. way 
to southwest winds before March. 

Blue Ridge, Valley and Appalachia. — These regions constitute 
the mountain district of the State, in which the climatic differences 
so far as revealed by observation do not justify a differentiation. 
The mean annual temperature of the Blue Ridge and the Valley is 
52°-56°, and that of Appalachia is 48°-54°. We may correctly desig- 
nate this as the zone of grasses, grains, and apples. The average 
mean annual temperature not only increases as we pass from east to 
west, but also from north to south, since the elevation gradually in- 
creases from the Potomac River southward. 

The aggregate precipitation of the mountain district does not 
differ materially from the Piedmont-Middle belt, but the proportion 
represented by snow is much greater ; and the rains are more frequent 



4 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 

and of shorter duration. The rainfall also increases with the alti- 
tude up to a variable limit, which is fixed by the local conditions. 
The mountains not only cause the condensation of the vapour brought 
by the rain-bearing winds, but prevent this supply of moisture from 
being carried away again by the winds in dry, clear weather. The 
rainfall of the Valley is greatest along the base of the mountains, 
since the air, approaching the mountain, is forced to rise some dis- 
tance from the barrier. Most of the rain is supplied by the south- 
east and southwest winds, the one directly off the warm Atlantic 
and the other less directly off the warmer Gulf. Those from the 
Gulf have been robbed of some of their moisture by the intervening 
land areas, but the increased elevation enables them to draw more 
effectively from the decreased supply. Equalization of distribution 
is established by the eastern half of the State having the advantage 
of ocean proximity, and the western half the greater elevation. 

The duration of the growing season is 5^ to 6 months in the Blue 
Ridge and Valley, and an average of 2 weeks less in the Appalachia 
country. 

This region, together with the part of Piedmont adjacent to the 
Blue Ridge, is peculiarly adapted to apple culture. The most suc- 
cessful growers plant their orchards on the mountains, because the 
valleys are not only more subject to frost, but the winter temperature 
is lower than for the mountain, up to a greater elevation than is 
represented by the mountains of Virginia. It is for this same reason 
that the coffee plantations of Brazil are laid out on the high ground. 
This theory when first advocated was considered absurd. It is now 
no longer accepted as a theory but as a fact, having been demon- 
strated by the scientists of America and Europe. The explanatory 
cause is, the greater radiation in the valley. This is not necessarily 
more rapid, but of longer duration. It begins one to two hours 
earlier in the evening, and continues one to two hours later in the 
morning. The following ^ve quote from Julius Hann :* 

The Swiss have learned by experience that the mountain sides have far more favourable tempera- 
ture conditions in late autumn and in winter than the iowlands. During one of the calm, clear spells of 
late autumn the traveller who spends a few days at cne of these farm houses on the steep mountain side 
may there breathe air which has the mildness of summer; he may see the green fields still decked with 
autumn flowers . . . while down below, in the valley, the ground is already frozen hard by the frost, th^e 
trees are lifeless, and all the activities of plant life have long ceased. 

There is a wide variation in the snowfall of the State, both region- 
ally and seasonally. It is usually light and of short duration in 
Tidewater and Middle Virginia. From the Blue Ridge westward, 
however, it is not uncommon for the ground to be blanketed a period 

* Handbook of Climatology (Ward's translation), p. 264. 



Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 5 

of six weeks or two montlis. This is of great economic value to the 
grain and grass crops of the region, protecting them not only against 
the intense cold of January and Fehruary, but ameliorating the effect 
of the thaws of occasional warm days. Since the region under dis- 
cussion includes most of the large forested areas of the State it is 
important that we make a brief study of the climatic effects of 
forests. Forests increase the absorption, and protect the contained 
moisture from speedy evaporation. This is most in evidence during 
a drought. When the fields are parched and dusty, scarcely showing 
signs of life, the adjacent forest has a wealth of foliage and flower. 
Throughout the areas that have been deforested during the last half 
century there is a noticeable decrease in the size of the streams. The 
ruins of old mills still remain on streams whose volume would now be 
entirely inadequate. The influence of forests on the distribution of 
water supply is greatest in connection with the snows and rains of 
the winter season. By preventing the snows from drifting and de- 
creasing the melting, a forested area thereby holds the water until it 
can be assimilated by percolation and absorption. We do not insist 
that the aggregate rainfall has been materially lessened, but that the 
same rainfall in a deforested region cannot be so thoroughly assimi- 
lated. If the country is deforested the ground usually freezes 
several inches before it receives much snowfall, and, in consequence, 
remains frozen to a greater or less extent until the approach of 
spring. The frozen earth being almost impervious, causes the loss 
of most of the water by surface drainage.- The natural result is that 
floods are far more frec|uent in deforested regions. 

Forest soils have also that constituency and protection which 
appreciably decreases radiation. The old settlers recognized them 
as "warm soils," without having the knowledge of a scientific ex- 
planation. The inability to raise peaches in certain parts of Michi- 
gan with former success has been ascribed by some students of the 
question to the deforestation of the country. 

General Remarks. 

The climate of Virginia is ideally adapted to successful agricul- 
ture, since the prevailing conditions in the different geographic divi- 
sions are such as are best suited to the soils of those regions. If the 
Blue Ridge and Tidewater could exchange positions, Virginia would 
cease to supply the eastern markets with early vegetables, and, in- 
stead of an annual surplus of more than $10,000,000, would be but 
little more than self-supporting. Then, if Appalachia could ex- 



6 



Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 



change places with Piedmont, Virginia would cease to be an import- 
ant tobacco-producing State, and the net receipts from this resource 
alone would be decreased by at least $5,000,000 per year. The rain- 
fall has the most advantageous monthly distribution with reference 
to farming operations and the growth of crops, being somewhat 
heavier from April to July, which makes disastrous droughts un- 
known. The growing season of each section is always long enough 
to mature the standard crops of that section. 

In general healthfulness, probably no State in the Union is more 
favored. The coastal region is growing in importance as a winter 
resort, and the western part of the State has for many years been a 
Mecca for summer tourists who seek health and comfort. The 
popular resorts are to be. found in almost every county west of the 
Blue Ridge. 

MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE, RAINFALL AND SNOWFALL, AND 

LENGTH OF GROWING SEASON, 

1900-1905. 

FOR REPRESENTATIVE VIRGINIA STATIONS. 







STATION. 








Table I, 1900: 




Norfolk 


T 


Richmond 


P-T 


Farmville 


P 


Lynchburg 


P 


Staunton 


v 


Clifton Forge. . . 


A 


BlacUsburg 


V 


Manassas 


P 


Burkes Garden.. 


A 


Bigstone 


A 


Table II, 1901: 




Norfolk 


T 


Richmond 


P-T 


Farmville 


P 


Lynchburg 


P 


Staunton 


V 


Charlotteville... 


P 


Blacksburg 


V 


Wytheville 


V 


Burkes Garden.. 


A 


Bigstone Gap.. . 


A 


Table III, 1902: 




Norfolk 


T 


Richmond 


P-T 


Farmville 


P 


Lynchburg 


P 


Staunton 


V 


Clifton Forge. . . 


A 


Blacksburg 


V 


Manassas 


P 


Burkes Garden.. 


A 


Bigstone Gap. . . 


A 



41 .2 

38.8 
39.0 

38.. s 
37.6 

37.8 

33.0 
35.1 

31.8 

35-4 



52.0 
52.8 
53-6 
51-9 
50.0 
SI. 8 
45.2 
47.0 
42.4 
49.0 



56.0 
55-8 
54.8 
54.8 
52.4 
47.7 
49.0 
50.0 
44-7 
52.2 



6^.8 
64.6 
64.4 

63-3 
61. 

63. 

57-3 

60.7 

54.0 

63-4 



61.0 
59-1 
57.4 
57.0 
56.8 

59-4 
52.0 

54-7 
48.4 

54-9 



Annual 



59-2 

35-7 
54-1 
55-4 
50.0 
52.2 
47.6 
53-3 



EXTREME 
M.-\X. MIN. 



100 
102 
105 
100 
102 
100 
96 

99 



100 
99 

97 
96 
97 
92 

95 



lOI 

99 
99 

95 
103 



Killing Frost 



l.\st in 
spring. 



Mch. 22 

Apr. 5 

Apr. 14 

Mch. 22 

May 10 

Apr. 15 

May 10 

Apr. 15 

May 5 

May II 



Mch. 8 
Mch. 17 
Mcb. 30 
Mch. 18 
Apr. 12 
Mch. 12 
Apr. 12 
Apr. 12 
Apr. 29 
Apr. 24 



Mch. 1 9 
Mch. 7 
Mch. 21 

Apr. 16 

Apr. 20 

Apr. 18 

Apr. 20 

Apr, 18 



first in 

AUT'IMN. 



Nov. 10 

Nov. 10 

Nov. 6 

Nov. 10 

Nov. 9 

Nov. 6 

Oct. 18 

Nov. 9 

Oct. 10 

Nov. s 



Nov. II 
Nov. 6 
Oct. 26 
Oct. 26 
Oct. 30 
Oct. 12 
Oct. 4 
Oct. 8 
Sept. 21 
Oct. 4 



Annu.al 



rainfl 

INCHES. 



39-34 
.37-76 

47.10 
39.02 
37-91 
43-75 
31-07 
4I-8.T 
48-9 



42.61 
42.05 

54-81 
51-18 
65.29 
53-46 
62.65 
63-71 
55-77 



Dec. 


6 


38. 


Oct. 


30 


49- 


Oct. 


22 




Oct. 


30 


48- 


Oct. 


15 


38. 


Sept. 


14 


33- 


Oct. 


22 


36. 


Sept. 


14 


43- 


Oct. 


15 


48. 



SNOWFL. 
INCHES. 



20.5 

4-5 



11-5 
15-8 

II. o 

10-3 

15-5 
20.3 



O. I 
2.2 



6. 

II. o 



* Tidewater (T), Piedmont (P), Valley (V), and Appalachia (A). 



Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 

MEAN ANNUAL TEMPERATURE, ETC.— Coniinuei/. 





Annual 


Killing Frost 


Annual 


STATION. 


NAT. 
DIV.* 


JAN. 


APR. 


JUL. 


OCT. 


MEAN. 


EXT I 
MAX. 

97 
93 

96 
95 
89 
91 
86 
96 
98 
94 


?eme 

MIN. 


LAST IN FIRST IN 
Si'RlNG. AUTUMN. 


RAINFL. 
INCHF.S. 


SNOWPL. 
INCHES. 


Table IV, 1903: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg 

Staunton 

Rocky Mount.. . 

Blacksburg 

Burkes Garden.. 

Manassas 

Williamsburg. . . 
Bigstone Gap. . . 


T 

P-T 

P 

P 

V 
P 
V 
A 
P 
T 
A 


41.2 
38.2 
38.2 
36.6 
34.6 

33-4 
32-5 
29.7 
33-0 
35 .-S 
39-0 


58.0 
57-8 
55-4 
56.1 
54.5 
52.6 

■50.5 
47.2 
53.1 
56.2 
S4-3 


78 
79 
78 
77 
74 
71 
71 
66 
75 
78 
74 


7 
3 
9 
6 
2 
2 
8 
8 
8 




60 
58 
57 
58 
57 
53 
53 
48 
56 
57 
55 


6 
9 
8 

I 
2 
2 
8 
6 
8 
2 


59-0 

56.4 
54-4 

51.2 
48.1 

56.9 
55.1 


14 

7 

12 

8 
"5 

7 
-I 
-6 

2 

9 
-3 


Apr. 5 
Apr. 24 
May 3 

May 2 
Apr. 6 
May 2 
May 5 
Apr. 6 
-Mch. 4 
Apr. 24 


Oct. 28 

Oct. 26 
Oct. 27 
Oct. 25 
Oct. 27 
Sept. 29 
Sept. 19 
Oct. 27 
Oct. 27 
Oct. 19 


46. 10 
47-42 

41.24 
45-63 
49.61 
44.76 
46.22 

49.24 
46.8 


'5-2 
20.4 

14.6 

20.0 
28.0 

20.9 


Table V, 1904: 

Norfolk 

Richmond 

Farmville 

Lynchburg 

Staunton 

Wythville 

Blacksburg 

Charlottesville. . 
Burkes Garden. . 
Bigstone Gap. . . 


T 
P-T 
P 
P 
V 
V 
V 

p 

A 
A 


36.4 
33-4 

32.8 

30.3 

28.8 

29. 

31.8 

26.2 

32.5 


55-4 
54-2 
52.8 
52.2 
50.0 
46. S 
46.6 
52. 8 
44-1 
5I-I 


77 
77 
78 
75 
72 

69 

75 
64 

71 


2 
7 

6 
5 
4 
4 
I 
4 
8 


59-6 
57-7 

56.2 
55.7 
51.8 
52-4 
58.6 

55.3 


57-4 
56.2 

54-8 
52.9 
50-7 
50-3 
55-3 

54-3' 


94 
98 
98 
98 
95 
89 
91 
90 

85 
92 


12 

9 

3 

-4 

I 

-3 

4 

-14 

5 


Mch. 29 
Apr. 20 
Apr. 21 
Apr. 22 
Apr. 22 
Apr. 22 
May 16 
Apr. 22 
May II 
May 17 


Nov. 7 
Oct. 28 

Oct. 4 
Oct. 7 
Oct. 15 
Oct. 15 
Oct. 7 
Sept. 16 
Oct. 24 


42.6 
37-84 

26.87 
28.84 
24-38 
32.25 
30-37 

39-59 
39.06 


12.2 
19.0 

19.2 

19.9 
26.0 
21.0 
29.0 
30.2 



♦Tidewater (T), Piedmont (P), Valley (V), and Appalachia (A). 



Geographic and Political Boundaries. 

Five natural geographic divisions can be easily recognized in a 
Study of the physical features and climatic belts of the State. These 
have a general northeast and southwest direction, as fixed by the 
Atlantic coast-line on the east, and the Appalachian System on the 
west. 

Natural Divisions. 

area in SQUARE 
MILES. 

I. Tidewater I i,ooo 

j 2. Middle 12,000 

^ 3. Piedmont 6,000 

4. Blue Ridge 2,500 

5. Valley 5-000 

6. Appalachia 5400 

These divisions succeed each other in parallel order, and are 
characterized by a continuous increase of elevation from the sea 
westward. 

Tidewater.— As the name would indicate, this represents that 
portion of Virginia territory which constitutes a part of the Coastal 



8 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 

Plain. It is an irregvilar quadrilateral in shape, averaging 114 miles 
in length from north to south, and 90 miles in width from east to 
west, and includes an area of about 11,000 square miles. On the 
south it borders North Carolina for a distance of 104 miles ; on the 
east it is bounded by 1,500 miles of tidal shore-line on the Atlantic 
Ocean, Chesapeake Bay, and the Lower Potomac River, or one mile 
of shore to every 71 1/3 square miles of territory. The continent 
of Europe has one mile of shore-line to every 191 square miles. 
The western boundary is marked by that line of sudden topographic 
change known as the fall line, where the streams emerge from the 
hard crystalline rocks of Piedmont on to the soft sedimentary de- 
posits of the Coastal Plain. The great number of bays and estuaries 
are of comparatively recent origin, having been formed by the 
gradual subsidence of the Coastal Plain region. 

The political boundary lines of Virginia are generally irregular, 
but they are more irregular in Tidewater than elsewhere, since the 
boundaries of the older counties were almost without exception 
fixed by the streams and the Chesapeake Bay water front. 

Middle Virginia. — In the article on physiography this territory 
was grouped as a part of Piedmont because of the similarity of 
structure and the inability to so clearly differentiate it physiographi- 
cally from the Piedmont proper. However, in the early development 
of the country the barriers which constitute its irregular western 
border were sufficient to give rise to a fairly well-defined differentia- 
tion of population. It is for this reason that we describe it here as 
a geographic division. 

It extends westward from the head of tide ("fall line") to the 
foot of the low, broken ranges, Catoctin, Bull Run, Yew, Clark's, 
South-west, Carter's, Green, Findlay's, Buffalo, Chandler's, Smith's, 
etc., mountains and hills. These extend across the State in a south- 
west direction from the Potomac River, near the corner of Fairfax 
County, Lo the North Carolina line, and are a part of the eastern 
outliers of the Appalachian System. The general form of this area 
is that of a right-angled triangle, its base resting on the North Caro- 
lina line; its perpendicular a line 174 miles in length, extending from 
the North Carolina line to the Potomac River ; and the hypothenuse, 
216 miles in length, extending along the Piedmont border. Most of 
the streams cross it at right angles, dividing it into a series of ridges. 
On the whole, it has the appearance of an undulating plain. A 
triangular area, including a part of Fauquier, Fairfax, Culpepper, 
and Madison counties, consists of Triassic-Jurassic sandstone, which 
produces a residual soil of marked fertility and durability. 



CUmutc and Boundaries of Virginia. 9 

Piedmont. — This division extends from the Appalachian outliers, 
previously named as the irregular western border of Middle Vir- 
ginia, to the eastern base of the Blue Ridge. It varies in width 
from 20 to 30 miles, and extends from the banks of the Potomac to 
the banks of the Dan River on the North Carolina line, a distance of 
244 miles. The elevation increases from 300-500 feet on the east, 
to 700-1200 feet along the Blue Ridge border. The topography is 
much broken by the numerous streams which cross it almost at right 
angles. 

From the middle of the 17th Century to the middle of the i8th 
Century this region constituted the Virginia frontier, which gave 
rise to a very distinct type of society. 

Blue Ridge. — This is the most prominent physical feature in the 
State, and stands as a conspicuous barrier between the Piedm'ont and 
Valley regions. It is 3 to 20 miles in width. Its elevation at Har- 
per's Ferry, where the Potomac breaks through the Ridge, is 1,460 
feet. This increases southwestward, reaching its maximum in 
Rogers Mountain, Grayson County, which is 5,719 feet in elevation. 
In its southern portion it expands into a plateau, which is the water- 
shed for the waters which flow into the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Atlantic Ocean. This fan-like expansion includes the counties of 
Floyd, Carroll, Grayson, and parts of Franklin and Montgomery. 

The early colonists gave it the name of the "Blue Mountain," or 
the Blue Ridge, from its appearance in the "distance. During the 
first half century of colonization the inhabitants believed it was im- 
passable ; and the first explorers to ascend it did so only to find 
other heights as formidable in appearance looming up in the west, 
and turned back in discouragement. In the spring of 1669 John 
Lederer'^ made a trip to the top of the Blue Ridge, which he called 
Apalataei. Almost the whole of the plateau is drained by New River, 
which flows northeast through a gorge valley of circuitous winding, 
having established its course at a stage of advanced erosion, when 
the whole xA-ppalachian area was reduced to a peneplain. 

The Valley.- — This division is 15 to 30 miles in width and 310 
miles in length, making an area of about 5,000 square miles. It 
consists of a continuous chain of counties, the boundary of which, 
is fixed by the Blue Ridge on the one side and the second and third 
range west of the valley on the other. Prior to 1738 all that part of 
Virginia situated west of the Blue Ridge was included in the County 
of Orange, but in the fall of 1738 this territory was divided into the 
counties of Frederick and Augusta. 

* Discoveries of John Lederer io 1 hree Marches from Virginia, p, ii. 



10 Climate and Boundaries of Virginia. 

Appalachia. — This is the most irregular of the natural divisions 
both in boundary and physical features. The eastern boundary is in 
general formed by Walker, Brush, and North Mountains ; while the 
western is formed by the Cumberland, Black and Flat Top Moun- 
tains south of the New River divide, and by the Alleghany Moun- 
tains or the Alleghany Front north of the divide. 

This irregular belt is 260 miles in length and 10 to 50 miles in 
width, with an approximate area of 5,725 square miles. 

The counties can be provisionally grouped with reference to their 
drainage system as follows : 

1. James River Group, including Highland, Bath, Alleghany 
and Craig Counties. 

2. Kaiiazvha or New River Group, including Giles and Bland 
Counties. 

3. Tennessee River Group, including Tazewell, Russell, Lee and 
Scott Counties. 

4. Sandy River Group, including Buchanan and Wise Counties^ 
which topographically belong to the Alleghany Plateau region. 

Summary of State Boundaries under Different 
Charters and Negotiations. 

1606. — First Charter* under James I, including all territory 100 
miles from the coast, between 34°-45° N. Latitude, and all the 
islands adjacent thereto. 

1609. — Second Charter, known as "Virginia Charter of 1609," in- 
cluding 200 miles along the seacoast northward and southward 
"from the said point of Cape Comfort," "through from sea to 
sea," and all islands adjacent thereto. 

1611-1612. — Third Virginia Charter, including all territory between 
30°-4i° North Latitude. 

1632.- — ^Maryland is ^detached, but the separation is strenuously 
opposed by the Virginia colonists. 

1744. — Virginia obtained from the Six Nations a deed for all their 
territory, which had for its boundary on the west and north- 
west the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers; thence along the east 
side of Lake Michigan, including Lake Huron ; thence to the 
Ottawa River, which it followed to its junction with the St. 
Lawrence River ; thence to the head of Lake Champlain ; thence 
on the 45th parallel to the St. Lawrence River ; thence to Lake 
Ontario ; thence with the Lake shore to the western Pennsyl- 
vania boundary." + 

* Jamestown was settled under this charter. 

+ Colonial Boundaries of Virginia and Maryland, Gilbert Thompson, pp. S-g. 



Climate and Boundaries of Virginia, 11 

From this time the boundaries remained unchauged until 
the settlement of the national boundaries by the cession of 1783, 
in which, on October 20, the General Assembly passed an act 
authorizing the delegates in Congress to convey to the United 
States all the Territory northwest of the Ohio River/'' 
1862-3. — The territory now constituting the State of West Virginia 't- 
was by the vote of the people separated from Virginia. It 
consisted of the three Northwestern Virginia Senatorial Dis- 
tricts. 



* American History Leaflet No. 22. By Hart and Channing. p. 12. 

t Constitution framed November, 1861-February, 1862, and ratified by the popular vote in April, 
1862. Bill for the admission of the state passed the United States Senate July 14, 1862. State for- 
mally inaugurated June 20, 1863. 

The Rending of Virginia. G. D. Hall. pp. 26-27. 



RACIAL AND REGIONAL STUDY OF THE 
VIRGINIA POPULATION. 



G. T. SURFACE. 



The distribution of population in a n^vv or old country affords an 
essential key for determining the factors of geographic control and 
economic response. In this brief discussion we cannot hope to do 
more than point out some of the salient facts relative to the estab- 
lishment, evolution, and distribution of the people of Virginia. 

The Indians, who were in possession of the territory prior to colo- 
nization, divided themselves into three confederacies — the Pozvhat- 
ans, Maniialwacs, and Monacans. The Powhatan confederacy occu- 
pied the Coastal Plain region and southern Piedmont, and consisted 
of 30 tribes ; the tribes inhabiting the headwaters of the Potomac and 
the Rappahannock Rivers were attached to the Mannahoacs; while 
those of the headwaters of the James River and the Great Valley 
belonged to the powerful IMonacans. The territory of the Monacans 
was always referred to by the eastern tribes as "the stony region." 
From this we see that the aboriginal people were distributed and 
divided according to distinct economic and physiographic conditions. 
The tribes of the three confederacies spoke languages so radically 
different that interpreters were necessary for the transmission of 
communications. Each was as distinctly adjusted to his primitive 
environment as was the Cavalier, the small German farmer, and the 
Scotch-Irish mountaineer of a century later. The Powhatans and 
the IMonacans were naturally the most densely-populated because 
their food supplies were both more abundant and more accessible, 
and the density in any local area was in direct proportion to the ease 
with which a livelihood could be obtained. Captain John Smith 
estimated, in 1600, that there were 5,000 Indians within 60 miles of 
Jamestown. 

The onlv vestige of Indian blood remaining which can be identi- 
fied with any degree of certainty is that of two small reservations in 
King William County, and these are considerably more negro than 
Indian. The larger band numbers 120, and they call themselves 



2 Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 

Pamnnkies; the smaller numbers about 50, and they call themselves 
Mattaponies. They are both governed by chiefs and councillors, 
together with a board of white trustees chosen by themselves. That 
they can lay some claim to being descendants of Powhatan may be 
inferred from Thomas Jefferson's reference to the Mattaponies and 
Pamunkies still occupying, in 1787, small holdings in King William 
County, on the streams bearing their names.* 

Most of the Virginia colonists of the 17th Century were English. 
Of these a small minority were of the English gentry, while the free 
and indentured f servants constituted the vast majority. Though 
these classes were of the same race, they were as widely separated 
in point of ability and social standing as if they had belonged to 
different races. They came for the most part from southwestern 
England, many being from the city of Bristol, and settled on the 
Coastal Plain and along the eastern border of Piedmont. The Cava- 
liers did not come in large numbers until after 1649. ^Y 179° they 
wxre estimated to number 250,000 and to represent the majority of 
the free whites. That almost all of them became planters, and be- 
came political and social rulers, is so well known as not to demand 
a discussion. 

The Quakers began to make their appearance in 1656, and the 
first immigrants settled in Nansemond County. As the agitation 
against them increased, some of them moved to the western Pied- 
mont and Valley region; but they continued stronger in the south- 
eastern portion of the State than they became elsewhere. 

Small parties of French Huguenots were introduced in the early 
part of the 17th Century for the purpose of planting vineyards and 
conducting that industry, but their coming was not fostered by the 
Government until 1700. In this year Colonel Byrd X negotiated for 
the landing of 500 Huguenot refugees, who were distributed as fol- 
lows, according to Brock :§ "They appear to have settled at differ- 
ent points ; a portion about Jamestown, some in Norfolk Countv, 
others in Surre\-, and 200 or more at a point some 20 miles above 
Richmond, on the south side of the James River (Powhatan 
County), where 10.000 acres of land, which had been occupied by 
the extinct Mannakin tribe, was given them." This settlement was 
made a distinct parish by an Act of the Assembly, December, 1700. 
They were accepted as desirable foreign immigrants because they 
accepted as a class the religion of the Established Church. The 



* Lecky— England in the iSth Century, Vol. ^i. 

+ Servants bonded for a time service to pay for transportation. 

:t: Lecky— England in the i8th Century, ^'ol. 3. 

S R. M. La Follette. The Making of America, Vol. i, p. ih. 



Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 3 

Huguenots were the most intelligent and enterprising Frenchmen of 
the i/th Century. Many were merchants and manufacturers, and 
few belonged to the French peasantry, or wage-earning class. 
Henry Cabot Lodge has attempted to differentiate the American 
"notables" according to race. He finds that 589 of the 14,243 listed 
in Appleton's Enclycopedia of American Biography are of Hugue- 
not descent, which would indicate on that basis of comparison a 
percentage of ability higher than that of any other race. The immi- 
grants to America being largely a select class of tradesmen and 
artisans, combined with the readiness with which they assimilated 
the language and religion, gave them a special opportunity for ad- 
vancement. 

The German immigrants during the early colonization of Virginia 
are usually spoken of as "skilled workmen of the trades," but their 
immigration did not assume important proportions until after the 
beginning of the i8th Century. About this time they began to come 
in large numbers as an overflow from Pennsylvania, where the policy 
of William Penn was so favourable that more than 500,000 came to 
that State in 20 years. As a class they were poor, and those who 
came from England were religious refugees. The land of the east- 
ern part of the State was occupied, and the attitude of these English 
colonists was anything but generous to separatists of any class. The 
presence of a frontier protection barrier was. however, so desirable 
as to make their presence in the western part of the State tolerated. 
Here land was cheapest, and the Great Valley gateway opened di- 
rectly into it, so it was but natural that the Germans settled chiefly 
in the Valley and the western Piedmont counties. It is in this region 
that we find their descendants in large numbers to-day; and they 
are, as a rule, industrious, thrifty, frugal, and pious. 

More Scotch-Irish settled in Virginia in the 18th Century than 
any other class. This is a mixed race, made up of the primitive 
Scot and Pict, the primitive Briton, the primitive Irish, but with a 
larger admixture of the later Norwegian, Dane. Saxon, and Angle. 
The discriminatory trade laws passed by the Irish Parliament in 
1698 destroyed their industrial prospects ; and the Test Act of Queen 
Anne's Parliament, compelling public officials to take the communion 
of the Established Church, deprived them entirely of self-govern- 
ment. With this they began to migrate in large numbers. They 
found in Massachusetts a State church to which they must conform 
to be admitted to citizenship; the Dutch of New York were un- 
friendly to them ; the Germans were localized and in possession of 
eastern Pennsvlvania and Maryland; and the English held eastern 



4 Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 

Virginia. In consequence, the great majority went west into central 
and western Pennsylvania, and southward through the Great Valley 
into the frontier country of Virginia, on into east Tennessee and 
western North Carolina. So favourable were the geographic con- 
ditions that they became the dominant class in the Valley. While 
the planters of eastern Virginia were living in luxury and ease, with 
an abundance of time and ambition for political and social pursuits, 
these hardy immigrants were building houses, clearing forests, 
tilling the soil, and fighting the ever-menacing Indians. They were 
brave, brawnv. resolute, robust, and industrious. Their experiences 
in Scotland had been such as to make. them brave and self-reliant, 
and appreciative of the conditions of freedom. 

Much of this 1 8th Century frontier region has. under the touch 
of skill and civilization, become the garden spot of the State, with 
the largest wealth per capita of any section in the State ; but many 
of the communities are the direct descendants of the first settlers, 
with scarcely a trace of foreign admixture, and are probably the 
purest stock in America. 

The Italians did not become an important part of Virginia immi- 
gration until within the past three decades, but are coming now in 
larger numbers than any other race. Two causes explain this un- 
usual influx : first, the immense Italian immigration to America — 
200,000 per year ; and. second, the unprecedented industrial activity 
of the State, such as railroad construction, mineral development, and 
factory enterprises. Most of them are from southern Italy, where 
the agricultural wages are from 8 to 32 cents per day. They com- 
mand in Virginia $1.25 to $3.00 per day in mining, and $1.50 to 
$3.00 per day in railroad construction. They are the most migratory 
of our foreign constituency. They are also the most illiterate, the 
most subservient to superiors, and yet among the most thrifty and 
industrious of our common labourers. Their standards of living 
are naturally low. the majority being of the peasantry who have fled 
from poverty, congested population, and the oppression of the land- 
lord system. We get very few immigrants from northern Italy, 
which has that intellectual, educated, and progressive type, so well 
demonstrated in their development of the Argentine Republic. In 
Buenos Aires they constitute one-third of the population, and own 
one-half of the commercial capital of the city. 

The negro population of the State is undergoing a rapid readjust- 
ment in aggregate and territorial distribution. According to the 
1900 Census, there were 55,000 negroes to every 100.000 whites, as 
compared with 62,290 to each 100,000 whites in 1890. The white 



Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 5 

population increased 16.9 per cent, in the last decade, while the 
negro increased but 4 per cent. The negro population in the differ- 
ent geographic divisions is distributed as follows in the order of 
density: Piedmont, Tidewater, the Valley, Appalachia, and the 
Blue Ridge. 

The migration is taking place in four directions : from the State 
as a whole to northern and eastern cities ; from the non-mining dis- 
tricts to the mining districts ; from the country to the cities and 
towns of the State ; and from the mountains to the valleys. The 
population was never large in the mountain sections, but almost all 
of the few thousands who lived in the mountains have moved out. 
More than 30 per cent of the total coloured population live in cities 
and towns, while less, than 20 per cent of the white population is 
urban. The relative decrease in the population is attributed to the 
high death-rate, and the northern migration — chiefly to Washington, 
Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York. The census returns from 
ten southern cities gave the coloured death-rate at 30.5 per 1,000 
coloured persons, while for the whites it was 17.9 per i.ooo in the 
same cities. The coloured infantile death-rate is nothing less than 
appalling — 371 deaths to 1,000 children born, as compared with 148 
among the whites. The coloured death-rate from tubercular trouble 
is more than two and one-half times as great as among the whites. 
What statistics we have on this subject for the years 1820 to 1,850 
indicate that the coloured death-rate from this cause was less than 
that of the whites. The causes are too numerous for a full dis- 
cussion in this paper. The most apparent are— the change from an 
open-air country life to congested city life, prevalence of immorality 
and vice, ignorance of the laws of health, lack of medical attention, 
and the lack of institutions for antagonizing disease. The economic 
safety of the white population and the rescue of the negro from 
physical degeneration demand that the situation receive prompt and 
vigorous attention at the hand of the Government (State and 
Federal), of all institutions organized for the purpose of safe-guard- 
ing the interests of humanity, and of every citizen and individual 
who prizes the health of his own family as worthy of protection. 

As a factor in the labour situation, the negro is important ; but it 
is difficult to predict his economic future. In Virginia he is drifting 
rapidly away from agriculture, is generally unsatisfactory in factory 
service, and many are developing such a marked aversion to do- 
mestic service as to be willing to live in poverty rather than engage 
in it. In whatever service engaged he is irregular, but, notwith- 
standing this serious objection, is generally considered as the most 



6 Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. ■ 

satisfactory labourer in construction work and mining operations. 
The same may be said of his services in restaurants and hotels. 

;|; * * ;|: * :!: * 

Population statistics supply at least a partial gradient for reading 
the economic and social conditions underlying them. During the 
decade 1890- 1900, the general population of the State increased 16 
per cent., the rural population a little less than 12, and the urban 
population 22.7. As a rule, economic factors are predominant in the 
shifting and readjustment of population; but in the case of the 
negro social factors seem to be of paramount importance. Since 
each natural division of the State has its own distinct economic 
environment, it will be interesting to examine into the human re- 
sponse as expressed by the redistribution which is in progress. The 
average increase in Tidewater was (1890-1900) 14.1 per cent., this 
being exclusive of incorporated towns. This evidences a normal 
healthful growth in the development of agriculture, which is the 
only rural source of wealth. 

Passing to Piedmont, the population curve rapidly descends to 
an average increase of 4.3 per cent. How shall we explain the 
relative decrease? In six counties within 60 miles of Richmond 
there was an absolute decrease, the result of city migration for more 
lucrative employment than the worn and frequently sterile soil can 
realize, better educational and religious advantages, and the pur- 
chase of country real estate by city investors. 

There are only three counties which are situated wholly in the 
Blue Ridge division: Floyd, Carroll, and Grayson. These are 
rugged plateau counties, which until recently were 20 to 30 miles 
from railroad connection, and in consequence are devoted entirely 
to agricultural pursuits. The population increased in the past de- 
cade 1 6. 1 per cent. From a careful field survey of this region I am 
convinced that the large increase is due to the prevalence of large 
families. The small family is in that region the exception. 

The Valley has had a normal healthful growth, with an increase 
of 13.5 per cent. This is the most productive agricultural region of 
the State. It has for many years been served by a railroad line 
throughout its length. The productivity of the soil, proximity to 
shipping points and small towns, and a native population trained to 
labour with the hands have minimized the tendency toward urban 
migration. 

Appalachia has been the scene of the most phenomenal develop- 
ment, chiefly through the growth of the coal and iron industries. 
The average increase in population 1890-1900 was 29.9 per cent., 



Racial and Regional Study of the Virginia Population. 7 

and the increase since 1900 lias been even greater. Wise County 
showed an increase of 110.3 per cent.; Allegheny, 75.9 per cent.; 
Buchanan, 65.2 per cent. ; and Dickenson, 52.6 per cent. 

Of the total population engaged in some gainful occupation 
(536,883), 45.4 per cent, are engaged in agriculture, as compared 
with 51.5 per cent, in 1880; 15 per cent, in domestic and personal 
service; 14. i per cent, in manufactures and mechanical pursuits; 
1 1.2 per cent, in trade and transportation (as compared with 6.4 
per cent, in 1880); 2.5 per cent, in professional service; 1.4 per 
cent, in fishing; i.i per cent, in mining and quarrying; and the 
remaining 9.4 per cent, in sundry vocations. 



VIRGINIA TRADE AND COMMERCE. 



G. T. SURFACE. 



Excepting the complicated factor of human traffic, the commer- 
cial relations in Virginia under slavery were surprisingly simple, as 
compared with the social ideals and customs of the time. The 
explanation for this is manifest, in that the large labour surplus 
enabled the owners to be producers of most of the articles consumed, 
-and at the same time produce a large surplus of tobacco, the most 
profitable commodity in the export trade. In 1790, Virginia ranked 
first in the total value of exports ($3,131,865). By 1830 the export 
trade had increased to $4,791,644; while for the same year the 
imports only aggregated $405,739, showing how adequately the 
demands were met by the home manufacturers. 

The passing of the War crisis, with its destruction to life and 
property, and the emancipation of slaves, made necessary a new 
system of production, which in turn brought about a reactionary 
adjustment of Virginia's commercial relations. The decade follow- 
ing the Civil War, is the period which marks the beginning of a new 
era in the industrial and commercial development of the State. 
We shall, therefore, discuss briefly the factors which gave impetus 
and foundation to the succeeding order. The immediate and most 
urgent demand was to become self-sustaining, by the production of 
food-stuffs and clothing, since all of the surplus had been consumed 
during the four-years' struggle, which centred on Virginia territory, 
and from which the people of the State suffered most. Co-ordinate 
with this w^as the demand for restoring the property losses incurred. 
Notwithstanding the fact that thousands of negroes migrated to the 
cities of the North and the cotton fields of the South, there was still 



2 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 

a surplus of negro labourers, but thoroughly disorganized and 
demoralized ; and few of the landowners had the capital with which 
to employ labour. Capital far in excess of the surplus had been 
invested in negroes, so that bankruptcy was more general than sur- 
plus capital. The large tobacco surplus was, therefore, ruled out by 
the conditions at home, and a diversified agricultural production on 
a small scale made necessary. This initiative was promoted and 
fostered by conditions outside of the State. Cotton rose to fabulous 
prices, and in the cotton States all energy was bent to a maximum 
production. They could not afford to raise poor corn and wheat 
crops on good cotton land, when cotton was selling at fifty to sixty 
cents per pound. There developed, in consequence, a great demand 
for provisions in the cotton States. The border States — Virginia, 
Tennessee, and Kentucky — were adapted to grains, grasses, and the 
live-stock industries, but not to cotton. The stimulus for diversified 
agriculture in these States was therefore much intensified by the 
situation in the cotton States. But the situation in the North was 
no less favourable toward this same development. While the South 
had been purchasing negroes and growing negroes, the North had 
been building factories, extending trade, and accumulating a large 
surpl^us. As the war progressed prices rose and Northern industries 
flourished, as a result of which there was more money in the North 
at the close of the war than at the beginning. Following the war the 
demand for cotton and woollen goods, farming implements, and 
labour-saving machinery was unprecedented, and so the Northern 
factories entered upon a new era of development and prosperity, 
which rapidly increased the urban population. As a result, instead 
of the manufacturing States having a surplus of food-stufi^s, they 
could scarcely supply the home demand. 

Without discussing the beneficial efifects of emancipation upon the 
production and trade of the State, it must be apparent to every 
student of Virginia's economic and industrial development that the 
change in the system was most fortunate. It induced an unwonted 
economy, which of itself was a discipline of far-reaching importance ; 
discontinued the general practice of wholesale timber destruction ; 
labour-saving machinery was purchased ; the soil better cultivated ; 
the property improved ; the children schooled ; and the surplus gra- 
dually increased. 

Virginia is just now entering upon another era of industrial 
development, which may be characterized as the era of scientific 
agriculture and diversified manufacture. This was made possible by 
the sounder and more economic bases of the post-bellum policies. 



Virginia Trade and Commerce. 3 

We shall discuss the present trade conditions under the following 
divisions : Intra-State Commerce, or the sale and exchange of pro- 
ducts between different sections of the State : Inter-State Commerce, 
the trade relations with other States ; and Foreign Commerce. 



Intra-State Commerce. 

Regional.* — The distinct zones of production conform in general 
to the natural geographic divisions. f Tidezvatcr produces a large 
surplus of garden products, peanuts, fish, and oysters, and these are 
the most important shipments westward ; but they are more than 
balanced by the coal, lumber, hay, grain, and tobacco received from 
the western part of the State for home consumption. 

PiedmontX produces a smaller surplus proportional to its area 
than either Tidewater or the Valley, but its productions are so varied 
that the deficiency of one part of the region could be supplied from 
the surplus of another, if developed with reference to economic 
adaptation. Coal from Appalachia is the most important shipment 
into Piedmont. Tobacco§ constitutes the largest surplus of southern 
Piedmont, and liv-e-stock the largest of northern Piedmont. Fully 
three-fourths of the total tobacco crop is manufactured within the 
area. The important manufacturing and distributing points are 
Richmond, 1 1 Petersburg, j[ Lynchburg, Danville, Chatham, and 
]\Iartinsville. 

The trade of Blue Ridge consists chiefly of the sale of live-stock, 
lumber, and fruits ; and the purchase of furniture, groceries, clothing, 
and machinery. This plateau section has more live-stock** per 
square mile than any of the other geographic divisions. 

The Valley produces a large surplus of grain, hay, live-stock, 
winter vegetables, and fruit. A large part of the provision surplus 
of the southern Valley is marketed in the mining districts of Virginia- 
West Virginia, which is contiguous territory. There is still a small 
surplus of forest products, but the cultivatable land is being rapidly 



* Production and trade of cities will be considered under a separate head. 

t The natural geographic divisions of the State are Tidewater, or the Coastal Plain; Piedmont, or 
the plateau region; the Blue Ridge; the Valley; and Appalachia. 

% Middle Virginia is here considered as a part of Piedmont. 

§ Sixteen counties in Piedmont produced, in igoo, more than 3,000,000 pounds each. Pittsylvania 
ranked first, 17,088,550 pounds; Halifax second, 13.077,200 pounds: and .Mecklenburg third, 7,368,220 
pounds. 

II On the Piedmont-Tidewater boundary. 

H Floyd, Carroll and Grayson are the only counties situated wholly in this division. 

** Cattle, 33 per square mile; sheep, 46.3 per square mile (1900). 



4 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 

deforested, and cannot be reckoned as an important and permanent 
factor of trade. 

The wealth of the \"alley is greater per capita than is that of any- 
other division, which makes it a large purchaser of farming imple- 
ments, household furniture, and general merchandise. 

AppalacJiia produces a large surplus of coal, coke, lumber, and 
live-stock. The coal is shipped to all parts of the State. The cattle 
are marketed locally, in the eastern cities, and as exports. Tazewell, 
Russell, Craig, Bland, and Giles counties form the agricultural belt 
of Appalachia, by virtue of a large part of the area having a strong 
residual limestone soil. Live-stock — especially small cattle and 
sheep — and lumber are the important sources of revenue in northern 
Appalachia. 

The mining counties — Wise, Russell, Buchanan, Dickenson, and 
Lee — are large purchasers of provisions, merchandise, mining 
machinery, draft horses, and alcoholic drinks. 

Cities.* 

Since no separate record of the State and inter-State traffic is kept, 
it is impossible to give figures as to the exact amount of shipments 
from the manufacturing and distributing points. The discussion is, 
however, based upon a careful study of the inter-State and foreign 
trade, reports and statements from the various Boards of Trade, and 
personal observations in representative sections. 

Richmond ranks first in population; is served by more railroads 
than any other point in the State; is largest manufacturing, jobbing, 
and distributing centre ; and is the most centrally locatedf city in 
the State. There were 1,554 factories in operation in 1906, the sales 
of which aggregated $77,432,692. Of the manufactures, tobacco 
led with 59 factories, and a total product of $20,195,336. The follow- 
ing valuations are given for the respective classes of manufactures : 
Iron products (including farming implements), $9,876,482; fer- 
tilizers, chemicals, iron and cement products, $8,376,120; and leather 
products, $3,361,077. The jobbing trade for 1906 aggregated 
$61,524,275. All of the important articles of manufacture are sold 
throughout the State. 

The largest purchases made by the city consist of tobacco, lumber, 
grain, flour,$ leather, vegetables, and poultry products. 

* This part of the discussion relates only to the intrastate trade of the cities. 

t If we draw a circle around Richmond as the centre on a radius which will include Accomac 
County, this circle will include four-fifths of the total Virginia territory. 

% The Richmond Grain and Cotton Exchange received during 1905, 4,500,000 bushels of grain, and 
162,200 barrels of flour. 



Virginia Trade and Commerce. 5 

Greater Norfolk (including Norfolk, Portsmouth, Berkley and 
U. S. Navy Yard). — Norfolk is not only Virginia's most important 
port, but one of the most important in the South. Among Southern 
ports it ranks first in lumber, first in peanuts, second in coal, and 
fourth in cotton shipments. 

The city is situated at the junction of the southern and western 
branches of the Elizabeth River, which is tributary to the James 
River Estuary, of which Hampton Roads is the connecting channel 
with the Chesapeake Bay. The James River has no bar at its mouth, 
and there are 30 feet of water at low tide. The distance of Norfolk 
from the ocean is 32 miles, and from Hampton Roads 8 miles. As 
to the special advantages of the Norfolk harbour, I quote from the 
report of Commodore M. F. Maury: "Norfolk, be it remembered, 
with its deep waters, spacious harbors and free outlet between the 
Capes of Virginia to the sea, occupies geographically what the early 
discoverers thought w^ould be, and what physical geography claims 
is, the most commanding commercial position along the whole 
Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Its natural advantages 
make it so."* 

There are 30 miles of wharf frontage. The outer harbour con- 
tains 50 square miles of anchorage ground, with a depth of 50 feet ; 
and the inner harbour (Elizabeth River and its branches) has 1,000 
acres of anchorage ground, with a depth of 28 feet. Portsmouthf 
is just across the river from Norfolk, and has a harbour frontage of 
one mile. 

The traffic of the southern branch of the Elizabeth River in 1905 
showed a great increase over any previous year, being about 11,000,- 
000 tons, valued at more than $500,000,000.$ 

Norfolk ranks first as a rehandling, and foreign and domestic 
export point ; and in the variety and volume of manufactures ranks 
next to Richmond. The largest enterprise is the United States Navy 
Yard at Portsmouth, which employs more than 2,000 wage-earners 
at a total cost of $2,000,000 per year. The following important 
industries enter into the general supplies and traffic of the State: 
Fertilizer, tobacco, lumber and iron mills, cotton factories, cotton 
compresses, packing-houses, peanut factories, fisheries, brick fac- 
tories, farming implements, and shoe factories. The total value of 
manufactures was estimated for 1905 at $34,400,000. Fertilizer, 
tobacco (manufactured), canned meats, peanuts, and oysters are 

* Physical Survey of Virginia, M. F. Maury, 1S76, p. 20. 

t Considered a part of Greater Norfolk. 

t Report of Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, 1906, p. 238. 



G Virginia Trade and Commerce. 

shipped to all parts of the State. The Norfolk jobbing and wholesale 
houses do a large business in Tidewater, eastern and south-eastern 
Piedmont, and North Carolina. It is the largest horse market in the 
South, the aggregate sales of 1905 being $2,500,000. 

The vohunc of the trafific going into Greater Norfolk far exceeds 
that of any other point in Virginia. The most important classes are 
in the order of tonnage : Lumber, iron, coal, grain, garden products, 
live-stock, cotton.* and tobacco. The lumber comes from Appala- 
chia, the Valley, Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and from North Carolina, 
Tennessee, and West \'irginia ; the coal from Appalachia, the States 
of Kentucky and West Virginia ; the grain and live-stock from all 
parts of the State, and the Middle West; the garden products from 
Tidewater and Piedmont chiefly, the cotton from Virginia, North and 
South Carolina ; and the tobacco from Piedmont. 

Nezvport Newsj is situated on the northern shore of Hampton 
Roads, 20 miles due west from Cape Henry. The depth of the 
water ofif piers is 60 feet. There are ten miles of water front, and 
good anchorage. The port is served by 18 regular steamship lines. 
The total tonnage for 1905 was 4,717,858 tons$ valued at $89,816,- 
686. About three-fourths of the total tonnage consisted of coal and 
coke. It is the seaboard terminus of the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- 
road, which intersects more intra-State lines than any other road 
operating in the State, and about three-fourths of its traffic is sup- 
plied by the connecting lines. The most important classes of coast- 
bound traffic originating in Virginia are : Grain, live-stock, lumber, 
tobacco, and garden products. Newport News is an important dis- 
tributing centre for merchandise, furniture, farming implements, and 
machinery, which go to all parts of the State north of the James 
River, and a small part is diverted to the connecting lines from the 
South. 

Lynchhnrg.^ — As an inland railroad centre Lynchburg ranks next 
to Richmond in importance. Although Lynchburg is now entirely 
an inland town, its early importance as a trade centre was fixed by 
the James River Canal, which was the most important transportation 
route from the seaboard to the interior part of the State, until the 
construction of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. Lynchburg was 
the handling station of all goods destined for south-west Mrginia, 
western North Carolina, and the northern part of the east Tennessee 

* 822,930 bales of cotton shipped from Norfolk in 1905, valued at $40,000,000. 

t Population, 28,749, 'i^ 1906. 

$ Tonnage in 1902, 2,663,669 tons. 

S Population 20.000 -j- in 1906. 



Virginia Trade and Commerce. '^ 

country. The old Lynchburg-Knoxville pike was constructed for 
the convenience of this traffic. The James River ceased to be 
navigable above Richmond when it became unprofitable to operate 
the canal, after which time Lynchburg's importance was due to the 
trade stimulus as fixed by the old transportation regime, and the 
later railroad facilities. In total manufactures and the jobbing trade 
it ranks next to Norfolk. The 1906 factory output was valued at 
$15,000,000. The important manufactures are : Shoes, foundry pro- 
ducts, tanning extracts, cotton goods, flour, and farming implements. 
In the manufacture of shoes it ranks first among the cities of the 
South. The products are sold throughout Piedmont, and the western 
part of the State. Lynchburg is the largest shoe-distributing point 
in the South, and its shoes are sold, not only in all parts of Virginia, 
but throughout the South Atlantic States. 

Roanoke'-'" may be justly termed a railroad town, as its size and 
trade have been largely produced by the Norfolk and Western Rail- 
road, of which it is headquarters. The company employs 4,700 
operatives, who have their homes in the city. It is situated on the 
main line (Bristol-Norfolk) of the Norfolk and Western railway, 
and is the southern terminus of the Shenandoah Valley and the 
northern terminus of the Roanoke and Southern railroads, both of 
which are owned and operated by the Norfolk and Western. The 
geographic location and railway service, therefore, make it the east- 
ern gateway into south-west Virginia, and the southern gateway into 
the Valley. The jobbing and retail trade have steadily increased, 
and manufacturing enterprises have begun to be extensively deve- 
loped. Roanoke will be a division terminus for the trans-State 
Tidewater railroad, which, added to its present prosperous trade 
relations, bids fair to make it the largest and most important excki- 
sively inland city of Virginia. The most important outgoing ship- 
ments are : Groceries, iron products, general merchandise, and alco- 
holic drinks ; and the most important incoming shipments are lumber, 
grain, vegetables, and tobacco. 

Bristol'^ is located on the Virginia-Tennessee boundary, and, as 
the terminus of five different railroads, is an important rehandling 
station and distributing centre. It is southern Appalachia's most 
direct gateway to the south and east, and is, therefore, an important 
trade centre for that region, and the southernmost portion of the 

Great Valley. 

Three of the railroads operating from the city as a base have their 



* Population 30,000 in 1905. t Population 15,000 in 1905. 



8 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 

General Offices there. It is also the headquarters of the Virginia 
Iron, Coal and Coke Company, with a capital of more than $10,000,- 
000. The most important manufactures are : Iron, lumber products, 
paper, tanning extract, tobacco, flour, and chemicals. 

The value of the manufactures and trade has been more than 
doubled in the last decade. The manufactures of 1906 are valued at 
$10,500,000; exclusive of lumber, coal, and iron products, valued at 
$10,000,000. The jobbing trade aggregated $9,000,000, which shows 
Bristol's importance as a distributing point. 

Danville'^ is at the crossing of the Southern and the Danville and 
Western railroads. It is the largest loose-leaf tobacco market in the 
world, handling from 45,000,000 to 55,000,000 pounds annually. 
Tobacco is the principal farm product of the region, and the most 
important article in trade. The city is situated on the Dan River, 
which has sufficient volume and favourable fall for the establishment 
of large factory enterprises. Already two cotton mills have been 
established, with a combined capital stock of $4,500,000, which fur- 
nish employment to more than 4,000 wage-earners. 

Inter-State Commerce. 

Though Virginia is making marked progress in the development 
of manufacturing enterprises, these have not reached such propor- 
tions as to make the State an important purchaser of raw materials. 
The rapid development of cotton factories creates an increasing 
demand for raw cotton. In 1900 there were only 7 factories within 
the State; while in 1905 there were 32, which consumed 57,223 
bales, an excess of 39,049 bales over the total production of the 
State. The most important shipments, therefore, from other States 
for domestic use consist of manufactured products. There are large 
shipments from other States into Virginia, destined for eastern and 
foreign markets, which require rehandling; and for these due allow- 
ance must be made in the consideration of the aggregate port trade, 
since no separate record is kept at the ports of the traffic originating 
within the State, and without the State. This .rehandled traffic 
creates a large demand for labour, sorting, transfer, and shipping 
facilities, and in that way becomes an important factor in the State's 
traffic and trade. The products consist chiefly of lumber, cotton, and 
tobacco from North Carolina ; lumber and live-stock from Tennessee ; 
and lumber, coal, and coke from West Virginia. 

Virginia produces a large surplus of raw and manufactured 

* Population in 1900, 16.520. 



Virginia Trade and Commerce. 9 

tobacco, garden products, forest products, coal and coke, live-stock, 
and peanuts ; and a small surplus of fruits, poultry products, leather, 
meats, and iron. These constitute the bulk of the outgoing tonnage, 
the major portions of which are sold in the North Atlantic and New 
England States. The most important markets are: New York, 
Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington. Large shipments 
of live-stock are made to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which point 
they are sold to the farmers of Pennsylvania for winter fattening. 

The inter-State shipments of live-stock, tobacco, cotton, and vege- 
tables are largely by rail. More than three-fourths of the sea- 
board lumber traffic, and more than one-half of the seaboard coal 
shipments, are by water. Cotton is shipped almost exclusively by 
water. The coastwise trade centres in Norfolk, Newport News, 
and Richmond. 

Foreign Commerce. 

The total imports into the State for 1905 were valued at $10,885,- 
628, and the exports at $23,409,119. The imports were largely 
general merchandise, and the exports coal, live-stock, grain, flour, 
cotton, tobacco, lumber, and meats.* 

Nezvport Nezvs. — The total exportsf from this port for 1906 were 
valued at $18,693,803, which is an increase of 18 per cent over 19054 
The following are the important classes, in the order of valuation: 
Flour, $3,095,649; lumber, $1,454,096; lard, $1,231,201; copper, 
ingots, &c., $1,100,623; tobacco, $1,038,483; coal, $925,275; linseed 
oil cake meal, $869,632 ; cotton, $506,056. The imports aggregated 
$2,723,788, an increase of 26 per cent, over 1905. § The following 
are the most important, in the order of valuation : Burlap, $376,388 ; 
jute bags, $336,025 ; plate-glass, $265,546 ; alcoholic drinks, $231,903 ; 
earthenware, $165,403 ; and cocoanut oil, $142,728. 

Norfolk and Portsmouth.\\ — The following are the important 
exports from this port, in the order of valuation :|[- Lard, $1,180,441 ; 
coal, $1,111,725; lumber, $1,000,000; cotton, $943,031; grain and 
flour, $780,487 ; tobacco, $329,729 ; and cattle, $305,300. The total 
exports were valued at $7,640,800 for the year ending December, 
1905, as compared with $8,256,519, the total imports for the same 
year, which consisted of merchandise, chemicals, alcoholic drinks. 



* The coastwise trade for the same year was about twelve timcb the total foreign trade. 

+ Newport Custom House Report, igo6. 

i Exports in 1905, $iSi75o,3io. 

g Imports in 1905, $2,154,650. 

II In the same Custom House district. 

t 1905. 



10 Virginia Trade and Commerce. 

burlap, etc. Norfolk is the ocean terminus of the Tidewater railroad, 
which crosses the State from east to west. Its construction is for 
the purpose of marketing the coal from one of West Virginia's 
richest fields. The grading in the Virginia portion is nearing com- 
pletion, and the contracts demand that the road be ready for traffic 
by January 1908. It will probably be the heaviest coal carrier in the 
State, and will increase the coastwise and foreign traffic out of 
Norfolk at least 25 per cent. 

It is generally believed that the Tidewater will finally be extended 
to the intersection with the Wabash railroad, and be consolidated 
with that system, in which event it would become one of the most 
important trunk lines. 



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